


Littlest Mer-J

by nescamonster



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Biting, Dubious Consent, First Meet, Fishtail!Jeremy, Hermaphrodite mermaids anyways, Hermaphrodites, Injury, M/M, Mentioned and limited gore and fight, MerMay 2018, Mermaids, Mpreg, Other, Prejudice, Sharktail!Ryan, attack on merfolk, egg eating, mer-smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2019-05-04 06:37:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14587134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nescamonster/pseuds/nescamonster
Summary: Enjoy the mermaid au no one asked for(unEdited, wasn't gonna bug my editor with crap lol)---I HATE DOING THIS BUT, Its happened and I can't afford to live. I dunno when I'll be back. So this is in permanent hold till my situation changes...





	1. Chapter 1

Jeremy’s family lived in a little coral reef just off the coast. Unlike his seven surviving siblings, Jeremy wasn’t content with staying within their corner of the sea. Though many fishtails were lost every year to predators, still Jeremy insisted on exploring. So much so, that he moved out of his parents home into a hollow he made himself.

Other fishtails avoided him as everyday he swum past the sentries, who didn’t bother to tell him off anymore, and into open ocean. He spent his days exploring, only coming back as the water cooled and the light faded. He would love to leave the Reef completely, but for fishtails, the open and deep water was death.

Jeremy flitted along the ocean floor, stirring up the sand with his orange frills, his deep purple tail suited to blending with the bright colours of the coral’s. His webbed hands sifted through the sand curiously, digging for all types of treasures, occasionally finding a morsel to eat. He filled his belly through snacking and sometimes the shells he cleaned out of food went into his pouch.

The bag was tied to his waist, made of strong strands of seaweed woven together finely with his delicate fingers. The fish around him brushed by him, unafraid of this breed of merfolk, only further soothed by the smaller than average size of him. From head to tail tip, Jeremy was only 6 foot and four inches long where most Fishtails reached seven.

It didn’t bother him as much anymore since he gave up on courting and started exploring. Any merfolk he met just wanted to settle down and start having brood. There was more to life than trying to have as many clutches of eggs as you can in Jeremy's opinion. Plus there was the added wrinkle that Jeremy was more attracted to masculine body types.

Though fishtails were hermaphroditic, Masculine body types were encouraged to mate with feminine body types. Thus the offspring could receive the strength and the speed of both shapes. Jeremy's preference towards the masculine would result in purely large and slow swimming spawn in his society's opinion. Jeremy thumbed his nose at such views, seeing his people as small minded and set to much in their ways. He felt that since settling the reef, they’d done nothing but sit there and stagnate.

Jeremy’s eyes caught on something silver in the sand, and with a simple stroke of his tail, he propelled himself forward. He funneled water out of his gills in a gush of excitement when he exposed what had made the flash, digging out a utensil of the dryworld. A metal piece that had four prongs on one end, the other rounding into a flatter shape.

Jeremy turned it in his fingers, marveling at it. He already had two, but anything from the above world fascinated him. This was definitely going into the pouch, Jeremy grabbing it with one hand to pull in front of his stomach without taking his eyes off the find. He didn’t notice the fish around him had all swum for cover as a shadow passed over the ocean floor.

Jeremy stored it away, patting his pouch happily before he looked about and noticed that the seafloor had cleared. His heart sped up and he sucked in sharply, gills fluttering at his neck as he twisted, looking up towards the surface. Above him was a enormous sharktail, their shape dark with the sunlight bursting around them so Jeremy could make out no details except the size of them.

Easily eight and a half foot long, the pale underbelly made Jeremy swallow hard. A great white could easily tear him apart with their hands, their jaws filled with sharper teeth than Jeremy's small pointed set. Jeremy knew it was too late to hide, and his hope would be that this shark was not hungry and would move on.

Luck was with him as the sharktail didn’t give him a first glance let alone a second, head pointed forward and a hand to their side where their gills were situated. Sharktails needed larger gills to breathe when chasing prey, and as it passed out of the direct sun, Jeremy could see that it was leaving a trail of pink through the water. He frowned as it passed, realising it was injured.

He was going to let it go, turn tail and flee for home, after all sharktails lived violent and bloody lives. However, sunlight caught between webbed fingers, a slash of silver that had Jeremy subconsciously drifting after the sharktail, letting it gain some distance from him but still trailing it. That sharktail was injured by something from the above world.

Jeremy bit his slightly scaled lip and with the smallest flicks of his tail tip, started to more actively follow the merfolk above. He knew he was being stupid, he knew everything his community would say about this decision. But he also knew he’d been told things all his life that were wrong, and thought the merperson above had a sharks end, he did have a merbody and intelligent mind. Surely they couldn’t be so different.

As he tracked from below, Jeremy saw a masculine shape, no curved front, just toned flat chest, a slightly rounded stomach of a well fed predator. Soft locks floated back in a haphazardly tied tail, and their fins were streamline and dark gray. Jeremy was fascinated by the lack of adornment this merperson sported; no fancy trimmings by nature, or adornments of coral or shell. Just letting the body speak for itself.

The sharktail started to dive down, and Jeremy hid behind a rolling hill of sand made by the current. They were further from home than he’d ever been, and though he’d followed this sharktail for the past hour, he knew if he left now he’d only just make it home by lightfade.

The sharktail disappeared behind the sandline, a deeper depression just beyond Jeremy's eyesight. Jeremy cast another look towards home, before he came up off the seabed and swum forward. He gasped as the sand gave way in a dramatic drop, a cleft in the sea floor that cast a twilight between the two rock faces, inside of which a human ship festered, only the back half of an old metal boat.

It was quite the find, and as Jeremy watched, he saw the sharktail disappear into the split opening of where the rest of the ship used to be. Gathering his courage and propelled by curiosity, Jeremy swum over the ledge and down, the water cooling as he approached the ship cautiously.

He put hands around the jagged edge of the ship, careful not to cut himself and peeked in. This seemed to have been somewhere to eat, bolted down tables around but already picked clean by scavengers. The sharktail was awkwardly trying to push himself a gap where once food was served out the window, trying to get to where the food had once been prepared.

Jeremy gulped and eyed the terrain, figuring the sharktail would have too much wiggling to get by the tables let alone pulling himself free of the smaller space he was wedging himself, to get at jeremy. He’d have time to beat a hasty retreat.

“Um, h-hello?” Jeremy clicked and squeaked towards the shark, swallowing hard and trying again, clicking a little louder, “Hey dude, n-need a hand?”

The sharktail’s furious whipping back and forth stilled, the water a darker pink as they bleed in one spot. Jeremy tensed, shifting back a little from the side of the boat, frills out ready to flee. Than a deeper keen came slightly muffled from where the front end was mostly stuffed through.

“I’m looking for something to get this out. How much would it cost for you to help me?” they sounded resigned to the fact that someone would take advantage of this situation, that they’d have to trade for help. Jeremy frowned and let himself drift into the boat slightly, putting a hand down on the surface of the table.

“Nothing… just ah… don’t eat me?” Jeremy asked half jokingly, half true bargaining.

“Don’t eat…” the sharktail repeated confused, than with a few pushes of their strong arms and a slash of tail, they’d pushed themselves free to look around. Their eyes met, Jeremy tensed to swim again, as realisation washed over the sharktails face, “You’re a fishtail.”

“Um, I think so?” Jeremy joked, twisting his webbed hands together nervously, “so that’s not a, like a problem for you is it? Cause if you think you’re gonna eat me than I think I better-”

“No, no.” the sharktail said rapidly, waving a hand at him and wincing, the other pressing to their side as a fresh pillow of pink came from the wound. Jeremy cocked his head, his body following as he twisted in the water, swimming a little closer again. The sharktail looked up and Jeremy backed off, putting another table between them.

“Why?” The sharktail asked suspiciously, eyes narrowing and sharp teeth being exposed in a warning grimace, “I won’t eat you, but why help me at all?”

“Cause…” Jeremy thought about it, and started speaking slowly as he spoke from his heart, wanting to convince this sharktail to let him help, “My people say Sharktails are evil. But, they don’t blink an eye when they see a barracuda getting their lunch. Like, it’s possible I guess but, no sharktails attacked us in years, and if they did it’s cause of prey predator shit right?”

The sharktail didn’t answer but Jeremy continued, his time alone making him introspective and questioning of everything and here, finally, was a listening ear, “Plus like, they say a lot of shit at home that I just don’t think is true. Like above worlders are bad, and their stuff is useless. Like that feminine and masculine make the best spawn. Like the point of life is to just live, reproduce and die… That can’t be all there is. It just can’t be! I don’t want to spend my life chewing kelp and sucking snails, spitting out eggs for some slimline and staring at the same strip of reef forever!”

Jeremy had started to pace, flitting back and forth gesturing as he spoke, and at the last word, threw his hands up and looked to the sharktail again. He breathed hard after working himself up and slowly lowered his hands as he went red in his cheeks. He hadn’t meant to go into a tangent. It was just no one had really asked him anything before.

The sharktail considered him for a long moment before opening his mouth, “My Name is Ryan.”

“Jeremy. I like the He/him pronouns.” Jeremy answered giving Ryan a more full and traditional greeting. Ryan raised a brow at that, looking confused. Jeremy was starting to drift forward again, fascinated by coming so lose to a real live sharktail.

“Um, So do I?” Ryan offered and Jeremy smiled brightly at him, now only two tables away, “But ah, what’s with the announcing pronouns thing when your male?”

Jeremy cocked his head in confusion before it dawned on him, flitting closer still, only one table length between them now, “You mean you only have claspers?”

Ryan nodded still with a look of confusion that morphed into pain as he took to deep of breath and pulled his wound again. In Jeremy’s society, since everyone could both fertilise and lay, when meeting someone new, you simple announced which pronouns you like. It was mind boggling to Jeremy that Ryan was only capable of one feat, and not both. Still he pushed that information aside to be gawked over later to inspect Ryan's side.

The sharktail was even BIGGER up close, his hands dwarfing Jeremy's, and his body toned and muscled with a layer of healthy fat over the top. The gills were deep slashes across both sides of his torso, large amounts of water being able to be filtered rapidly by the mermanbut through four of those delicate floating flesh was a long deep sea fisherman's hook. It held them together so Ryan couldn’t breathe too deeply or he’d pull and hurt himself more.

“Ok well-”

“Don’t touch it!” Ryan snarled, curling a little back from the fishtail like he was the dangerous one. Jeremy glanced up at him with a frown before looking back at the hook, trying to figure out how to get it off the merman without further harm.

“I wasn’t going to touch it,” He said with a knowing click, “It’s barbed and… You already tried to yank it out didn’t you?”

Ryan's face had changed as Jeremy had been assuring him and Jeremy had caught the rueful expression in a glance that made him look twice, “Look, I wanted it out ok? I bit through the line than I tried to just pull and… well it didn’t work, obviously.”

“Obviously! Its barbed and curved!” Jeremy scolded, unsure when he’d moved but now he’d floated over the table top and was well within reach of the sharktail. However, instead of grabbing him and tearing him to bits, this enormous predator shied away from his natural prey looking very guilty and uncomfortable by the small bright fishtail that was shaking a finger at him, “the only way this is coming out is by cutting the curve and taking the blunt ends out.”

“Well how do you suppose we do that?” Ryan asked a little sarcastic and a lot defensive. Jeremy had his answer ready however, smirking at him even as he was throwing out the challenge.

“With the above worlder tool I have.” Jeremy grinned like he’d won something between them.

“And where is this tool?”

“It’s in my-” Jeremy’s face fell and he facepalmed as he groaned, “It’s in my house… never mind…”

Ryan didn’t see the problem, “go get it then come back?” he suggested hopefully. Jeremy shook his head and gestured behind himself, absently propelling himself closer again to Ryan.

“No my place is in the reef. I won’t get back till after sunfade, let alone back here till at least sunbright. And you…” he looked up into Ryan's face as his voice trailed off, seeing where he was leading. Ryan's eyes weren’t the black he’d been warned about. They were the crystal blue of the ocean after a storm…

“I will have died by than.” Ryan finished the thought for him, jerking Jeremy out of his musing about eye colours. Jeremy's lips thinned and he gave a curt nod. Sharktails, unlike their full bodied cousins, did not need to keep swimming to survive. They did however need all the oxygen they could siphon to keep their extremely large bodies going which is why unlike the slimline Fishtails, Sharktails had both gills down either side of their bodies. With one side of gills down, Ryan was breathing shallowly, and over an extended time he’ll slowly pass out from lack of oxygen.

Jeremy looked away, trying to think of a different solution but finding nothing. Ryan's hand on his shoulder startled him back, coming forward again when he understood he wasn’t being attacked. Ryan had withdrawn his hand, but the heat of it stayed on Jeremy's houlder as the sharktail smiled sadly at him.

“Hey. Thanks for offering to help. That was good of you.” Ryan praised him softly than nodded his head, “You better go home then. The ocean is no place for a fishtail to be after sunfade.”

  
Jeremy shook his head, daring himself to come nearly chest to chest with the sharktail, “Nah. I got nothing better to do. Maybe we could find something inside there.” he said pointing to where Ryan had been searching. Humans kept all kinds of things in little boxes that slid in and out of benches.

Ryan's eyes followed his hand, “yeah well, that’s what I was hoping but someone's already come through here and taken anything useful. Maybe if you…”

Ryan's voice faded as the solution his Jeremy right between the eyes.

“Come with me.” the words clicked out of his mouth without his thinking about it, meeting Ryan's startled look with his own, “Dude… you could make it to my place. We take it slow and easy, and we’ll be at my place midnightish. I’ll cut the hook, free your gills and you slip out.”

“No. that’s too dangerous. I’m hurt, and they’ll run me through with tridents before I can get away.” Ryan shook his head.

“So you’d rather suffocate here?” Jeremy pressed and gestured emphatically at himself, “I’m the weirdo ok? I know how to avoid the sentries when I don’t feel like being laughed at. I can slip you in, fix you up, and slip you out. What have you got to loose?”

“Ah, my life?”

“Well your going to lose that anyway.” Jeremy was merciless, “Come with me. Please?”

\---

Ryan couldn’t refuse. They both knew it. So it was that Jeremy was doing the most insane thing he’d ever done as the Shoal’s resident weirdo. He brought an apex predator home with him. Even with Ryan's injury, the sheer size of him meant he could keep up with Jeremy while swimming, and as the light faded, Ryan kept them on track for Jeremy's home as the smaller Fishtail swum close to ryan's underbelly in instinctual schooling.

“How do you know where the shoal reef is?” Jeremy asked curiously as Ryan guided them more as the light disappeared. Ryan shrugged a shoulder, his voice a little strained, lack of oxygen starting to affect him.

“All the Pod does. The increased population and defensive have made it so it’s not the easy eat it used to be… Sorry,” Ryan apologized when Jeremy flinched but the orange and purple merman waved it off.

“It’s ok. I get it. It’s a predator eat prey world.” Jeremy tried to joke but Ryan looked down at him as they swum together.

“It shouldn’t be. At least, for us, we are all Merpeople. Our tails might be different species, but our tops are all the same.” Ryan looked forward again, “But, my pod don’t want to listen to nonsense.”

“You… You’re laughed at too huh?” Jeremy slowly said, his mind turning that over, “Is that how you got hooked?”

Ryan glanced at him sharply, hand contracting on his side slightly in response, “perhaps… we know everything about our tail ends here, we can see where we come from, where our trail split form our cousins… but of the top half we know nothing except they live above life-giving water and throw their junk into it.”

“So you went near the surface and got got for your trouble.” Jeremy finished for him than gave a shaky laugh, “You’re braver than me. I just collect their stuff and wonder what they use it all for. I’d never be brave enough to go up there and actually *see* them.”

“I think your plenty brave.” Ryan said as if he were surprised Jeremy could think otherwise. Jeremy snorted out a plume of water and with a flick of his tail and a push from his fins coming out of his forearms, he shot forward, twisting so he was belly to belly with Ryan and they could look at each other.

“That’s only cause you’ve known me for moments. You know what my species is great at? Hiding. We hide. It’s what we do.”

“You know what passes for intelligent conversation in my pod?” Ryan challenged with a sharp grin, deepening his voice, “ ‘you shoulda seen it squirt itself, the ink looked like it threw up haha’...at least your species aren’t bullies.”

Jeremy thought about the teasing, the jibs the scorn and he shook his head, “No, my species are just as cruel, trust me.”

“But do they eat you if you are too diffrent?” Ryan asked his smile turning bitter, “cause I do what I can to be normal around the pod. I don’t want to end up like Hank…”

Jeremy shuddered and twisted so he was swimming belly down again, not wanting to look at Ryan's teeth, his large powerful jaws that could extend or the fin cutting through the water at his back. Of course he could imagine what had happened to this ‘Hank’ but his species was just as bitter.

“They’re talking about outcasting me.” Jeremy admitted low, “I heard them speak to my parents. They want them to ‘pull me in school’ or ‘cleanse the anemone.’” Above him Ryan looked down at the merman, watching his beautiful frills dance in the water as his tail shimmered in the dark catching the smallest of light and reflecting it back.

“Outcast isn’t so bad-”

“It's a death sentence to us.” Jeremy cut him off sharply, bitterness in his tone, “I eat mollusks, kelp and small crustaceans. I’m a scavenger, not a predator. If I was forced out I’ll die. I can’t hide myself in the plain’s, only in the reef to I blend in...I was out there today to say goodbye to my exploring...”

Ryan made a soft sound, like he wanted to speak, but he didn’t know what he could say. Jeremy looked up over his shoulder, a forced smile on his face, “Hey, at least i went out with a big adventure right? I wrangled a sharktail!”

“Well I’d hardly say I was wrangled…” Ryan couldn’t help saying but he smiled, “Persuaded perhaps is a better term.”

Jeremy smiled to the sea floor at that, but he stayed quiet, shifting the angle of his body up to press against Ryan's. Ryan was much larger than him, and his body texture was different, rough skin pressing against scale. It was odd, but not unpleasant, and as Jeremy pressed his palm to ryan's mouth, he felt that instead of the fine transparent scales that protected Jeremy's features, Ryan's skin roughed as tough as his sharkhide.

“Stay quiet. This way.” Jeremy squeaked in his ear frill, than to Ryan's predator eyes, Jeremy nearly disappeared into the fronds of the reef. He couldn’t make out the flash of scale within the reef bed. That was until Jeremy's webbed hand closed around his wrist and yanked him down.

Ryan snarled with pain, and Jeremy flitted back from him, eyes wide with fear, frills extended for fleeing. Ryan purposely pulled his lips down over his teeth and averted his eyes, pressing a hand harder to his side as he panted, “Sorry!... Instinct…”

  
“S’ok… Just, um, this way.” Jeremy said cautiously eyeing him, for the first time seemingly to realise he was bringing home something that could eat not just him, but his family. They swum between the shoals that made a kind of sheltered roof above them, like a tunnel under the tails of those who swum above. Jeremy knew the twists and turns, careful to go slow enough not to lose Ryan, and wincing as he watched ryan scrap rock with his elbows and catch his dorsal fin between shoal gaps at times.

“Sorry, sorry…” Jeremy muttered whenever he heard Ryan's intake of pain. Jeremy hadn’t thought how well these tunnels would take to having a shark through them. Ryan was hoping this wasn’t a secret plan to get him trapped. Right now, he was the easy prey, even Jeremy's smaller mouth and teeth could rip his throat out and Ryan had no room or energy to fight him.

Finally however, Ryan was stopping, a soft smaller hand on his forearm, jeremy’s head popped out form a larger opening, “Ok, no one’s around… So just stick close to my fin, and stay quiet.”

  
Jeremy instructed, getting a nod before he swam into the open again. Ryan wiggled out after him, a few parting grazes as he did so. The shoal reef went down in a valley that had plenty of large rounded corals and anemones clinging to the rock. No one was outside at this time of night, so they moved quickly to Jeremy's home.

Most fishtails lived with many, but Jeremy wanted solitude, so he had chosen and hollowed out a rounded coral and into the rock it clung to. He passed through the opening easily, but Ryan once again got stuck, his dorsal now catching on the opening. Jeremy tried to pull his arms but that just made the shark grunt with pain so Ryan sucked in a breath that burnt when Jeremy pressed in the tight space between the shark and the coral roof.

“Just, stay still ok?” Jeremy shot his way, his belly pressed right to Ryan's back, Ryan shivering with how much skin to skin contact they had. It had been a long time since anyone had willingly touched him. Jeremy's fin knocked his head and the fishtail apologized before Ryan felt his fingers on the edge of his dorsal, “Might tickle.”

That was all the warning he got before Jeremy started to bite the coral, ripping chunks of it off, than breaking smaller pieces. Ryan felt the scrap of teeth on his dorsal but it caught the coral and not his skin so he relaxed, giving an experimental wag of his tail as Jeremy opened a slot for his dorsal to pass.

Once in, he had to curl around the main living space, too large to comfortable float. He twisted to look back at the entrance, but Jeremy was already moving a large flattened piece of shoal to block the way, weighing it down with an aboveworlder object, the metal hook with a part of chain attached.

“That’s called an anchor.” Ryan said passingly, Jeremy looking up as the anchor settled onto the shoal. Ryan felt heat flush his cheeks and was glad the light was absent with the entrance closed. Only through his predatory senses, the electric impulse making Jeremy's heart beat, was he able to make out where the fishtail was.

“How do you know that?” Jeremy asked as he moved to another part of his domicile. He rummaged through various weaved bags that were hung on rock hooks he’d burrowed into the softer coral walls. Ryan bumped his head on something hanging, grabbing it with his hand and feeling hard smooth surface.

Sudden light made him blink, as Jeremy lifted a clear object with a rock of some kind Ryan didn’t recognise in the end. Inside its see through body, were tiny fish that had lights inside their stomachs. Ryan’s mouth opened slightly as he admired it, before he looked to Jeremy's face, a strange green tinge from the lightfish.

“Um, because when I went near a ship I heard them call ‘drop anchor’ than one of those came into the water.” Ryan explained. Jeremy looked fascinated but with obvious effort he restrained himself from asking one of the questions on his tongue to instead shove the light source into Ryan's fumbling hands.

“Here, hold this, I need to search.” Jeremy told him, starting to bring trinkets from various nooks and crannies, little bags, boxes, shells that opened. As he did Ryan took one shaky breath after another. All the movement and exert had taken its toll and the shark started to sink towards the curved floor.

As the light moved lower, Jeremy noticed and he quickly came to Ryan's side, “Whoa! Hey, I’m not explaining a dead shark in my house ok?”

Ryan gave a shallow chuckle, “I’m… sorry… Just, hard to breath…”

“No shit theres a hook in your side.” Jeremy tried joking than grabbed at one of his hanging gourds, shaking them, different nicknacks spilling onto his palm but not the hook cutters, “Fuck… where’d I put them?”

Ryan was taking shallow breaths, tasting blood in the water, pressing a palm back to his side again. The light was cradled to his chest and he shut his eyes, concentrating on his breathing now. Either Jeremy found the above worlder tool, or Ryan would die here.

Ryan was touched Jeremy had tried so hard.

“AAARRRGGG!!!” Ryan roared as the hook jolted through his gills, the cutters snipping the metal in half. Jeremy tried to hush him, but he pulled the two halves out making Ryan throw his head back and snarl. As his gills were freed to full movement again, Ryan knocked objects around, stirring everything with great slashes of his tail, sucking in copious amounts of water to restore the balance within his massive body.

He stilled as he caught sight of Jeremy, curled around himself, covering his head and neck with his hands, whimpering. The hook and the cutters were by his pelvic fins, evidence he’d had freed the sharktail and was now terrified by Ryan’s roaring.

“Jeremy, I-” Ryan reached for him and he shied away, but what stilled Ryan’s tongue was the panicked beating of the shaol blocking the entrance.

“Jeremy!? Jeremy are you home?! Did you hear that?” a panicked masculine voice called, than a more calm feminine one.

“That sounded close, so we want you to come home to the anemone tonight.”

Jeremy’s chest was rising and falling quickly as he looked to Ryan. Ryan gazed back at him, careful not to startle him. Jeremy could sell him out right now and Ryan would be done for. He was still hurt and trapped in a confined space. He’d easily be dispatched by a school of angry fishtails.

“J-Just a minute. I knocked things over when I heard it.” Jeremy called shakingly, eyes on Ryan. Ryan put his hands together trying not to look to threatening as what must be Jeremy's parents spoke through the shoal door.

“Jeremy! Come out right now and join your family!” The feminine voice ordered sharply. Jeremy gestured for Ryan to squeeze into Jeremy's sleeping nook. Ryan swallowed hard but he had no choice but to trust, wiggling into the tight space, feeling Jeremy draping the end of his tail with seaweed. It was uncomfortable and he couldn’t breath very well, but it was better than being caught. He heard Jeremy shift the anchor and open the shoal.

“Hey guys, listen, I’ll be right over but-”

“No buts Jeremy, the anemone can sting anyone who comes close, it’s much safer.”

Jeremy looked over at Ryan’s tail than put a hand on the shoal like he could ward off the other fishtails, “Mum, listen… I’m packing up here…”

“Your packing? But nothings been decided! Jeremy, please, you don’t have to leave-”

Ryan listened to the fathers panic, realising how close Jeremy was to being exiled. If he were found here, maybe the fishtails would pass their first death sentence. Ryan felt a turning in his stomach that had nothing to do with the pain of the hook he’d had in his gills.

“Dad I’m packing to take it to the trench.”

The shocked silence was telling before, “You’re… You're giving up the above world stuff?’

“Yeah. Tomorrow morning I wanted to take everything to the trench and dumping it. So, just gimme tonight to pack up please? I doubt any predator will come this deep into the reef. The sentry's will take care of it. Please?” Jeremy begged through the shoal, and to Ryan it didn’t sound fake the catch in his chirp.

  
“Do you want help son?” Apparently Jeremy's mother heard it too because she had softened her tone.

“No, thank you. This is something I gotta do myself.” Jeremy said firmly, and Ryan met his eyes as he wriggled back out of the sleeping nook, gazing down at the much smaller merman with wonder. Jeremy blushed and looked away, scooping up his light source and drumming his fingers on it.

Only once they heard Jeremy's parents call a greeting to those they left in their place did they speak.

“Well I should-”  
“You don’t have to-”

They both spoke at the same time, caught each others eyes then looked away. Ryan rubbed the back of his neck, scratching at the sharkskin there. The movement of his arm pulled his side and he winced, but it was a good pain, the kind that told him his gills were free again. He smiled with all his many teeth at jeremy who gave a smaller grin back.

“Thank you. I don’t know what would have happened had you not come along.” Ryan said softly. Jeremy waved a hand and placed his light source in a woven back in the middle of his roof. He floated back down to recline along the curved floor shrugging and not looking at Ryan.

“Someone probably would have come along.” He tried to dodge the thanks but Ryan pressed the point, shifting forward and carefully, slowly, taking his hand. Jeremy tingled from the contact right down to the tip of his tail fin, looking up into earnest blue eyes lit by soft yellow light.

“No. They wouldn’t have. And if by some miracle they did. No one would have helped me like you have. Gone above and beyond for a stranger...” Ryan shook his head slightly at the mystery that was Jeremy, “A predator no less, that you fear… and now your giving up your trove?”

Jeremy shrugged, gently pulling his hand from Ryan’s to smooth down his hip frills nervously, “Eh, they had to go anyway.” He said firmly than gave Ryan the sharpest look yet, a calculating one as he slowly smiled.

“So, you’d say You owe me one right?”

Ryan's heart sunk as he realised jeremy was just like everyone else. Only out for themselves. He breathed in deeply, gathering himself up and nodded.

“Than, will you take all my stuff? I’d rather it go to a fellow aboveworld collector.”

Ryan blinked in surprise, “You-you want to give me all this?”

“Well yeah. I mean the glowies i’ll let go into the trench again, but everything else… If you meet me at the far end of the trench, I’ll bring it all there and you can take what you want.” Jeremy explained and he slipped back into that passionate tone he’d had in the ship, “I mean, I have to get in line and all, but doesn’t mean they can tell me what to do. It’s my life, and sure i might not be able to go out everyday anymore, but im still going to explore when i can. I was thinking of joining the sentries-”

Ryan flinched. The sentries were also those who defended the shoal. They would attack sharktails on sight if they wandered too near to the reef town. Jeremy put up his hands when he saw the flinch.

“No, no. I wouldn’t- I would never… I could sneak away on shift and call it patrolling dude. That’s all. So. what do you say?” Jeremy extended his webbed hand towards Ryan who eyed it than the fishman curiously. Jeremy wiggled his fingers and Ryan grinned, one that exposed all those sharp predator teeth. Jeremy didn’t react to it except to smile wider so Ryan took his hand and shook it firmly.

“I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship.” He observed to his smaller buddy.

“I think it’s gonna be awesome!” Jeremy quipped back, “Now let’s get you the fuck outta here!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just a warning, the chapter ahead contains what might be disturbing imagery. The fishtails reproduce via spawning, and the sharktails find that delicious so watch out for that. also i dunno how to tag it, but Jermeys pressured into taking a mate and having spawn with her, no idea how to tag that but agian watch out for talking about that

Jeremy was so bored watching the Coral cod school together. He leant his head against the trident he was given to defend the School from bigger predators. Watching them swim aimlessly bored him and he uselessly longed for his old passtime.

As it normally did when he thought back on those days, his mind brought up the unlikely interaction he had with a certain type of Merfolk. A sharktail called Ryan who had become Jeremy's friend in the brief night they had together ducking Jeremy's people and removing a aboveworlder hook from Ryan's side gills. Jeremy wondered if Ryan ever thought of him.n

Jeremy never managed to meet up with the sharktail again. His family had insisted in helping him take all his aboveworld momento’s too the trench to be dumped and jeremy had only seen a brief slice of Sharktail swimming away. He could even have imagined that.

His request to join the sentry’s had been denied. No one wanted him tempted to sneak away during rounds and so he was instead assigned the boring job of watching the cod. He couldn’t sneak away since the cod were trained to follow the merfolk holding the trident Jeremy had in his hands. He could leave it behind but then the cod would be undefended and with the new batch of younglings, they needed the school for food.

Jeremy tipped his head back, looking up at the sun shining through the water, feeling trapped in a false life. To please his family, he fertilised a feminine shape this season, and she had laid their clutch in his home. Soon he would be a father and all he felt was emptiness.

He wished he was brave enough to swim away.

“Swim away! Swim away!” For a moment Jeremy thought he was still daydreaming when the call sunk in and he looked over towards the main settlement. All the merfolk were diving into their coral homes and Jeremy started, swimming up from his seat, starting directing the cod to their own hiding spot as the call came again, “Swim away! Sharks! Sharks!”

The cod swum into the hollow designed for them and Jeremy planted the trident in the opening to prevent the Cod from swimming out. He darted back towards the shoals as fast as he could, glancing up to see the threat. There making a direct line for them were an entire Frenzy of sharktails, the sight making Jeremy's swimming falter in shock before he got back into rhythm.

So focused was he on the threat and trying to make it back, he never saw the Shark before it slammed into him from the side, a hand slapping against his mouth to stop him trilling a warning.

The slammed into the coral reef, Jeremy's scales protecting him mostly from the sharp rocks but a bit of blood wafted from the sharks torn skin. Jeremy arched his head, trying to see his attacker than went still, mouthing his shock against the hand on his mouth.

“Shh! Yes its me! Quiet down!” Ryan hissed in his ear, pulling them deeper into the intertwining corals to hide them from sight. Now Jeremy knew who he was, Ryan slowly pulled his hand away from the smaller Merman as Jeremy gaped at him.

Ryan looked in a bad way, multiple lacerations, not just from the hit against the rocks but from what looked like teeth and claws. Bruising was deep and patched over his torso and his fin had a chunk missing from it, bitten clear away. Ryan flinched at first before leaning in when Jeremy extended a hand to his cheek, cupping it softly as they hid together, his question not needing to be asked.

“My Frenzy are all hungry. The migration was late this year and the pod was smaller than predicted. I suggested to our leader that we should move to the warmer waters ourselves, perhaps hunt the larger whales this year but as you can see, Heyman didn’t like that.”

“Your _leader_  did this to you?” Jeremy couldn’t wrap his mind around that, horrified at the thought. Ryan shrugged, leaning more pressure against Jeremy's palm, liking the comfort.

“Yeah. the only reason he didn’t eat me was because his younger mate, Ray… Well, we go way back…” Ryan didn’t seem to want to talk about that, moving his head from Jeremy's touch to look up through the corals to where the sharks were circling the Shoal, the fishtails ready with tridents should they come closer, “They’re here for a proposal.”

Jeremy followed his look up, instinctively contracting around himself, curving into Ryan to stay hidden. Ryan’s eyebrows shot up and he glanced down at the fishtail who had placed a hand on Ryan's chest to steady himself as he watched the invaders.

“What kinda proposal?” Jeremy asked fearfully. If the sharktails were hungry, then his little shoal community were in deep trouble, “Why talk at all? Why not just attack?”

“Heyman’s mates are nearing season and he doesn’t want to risk them against your tridents.” Ryan answered, ignoring Jeremy's closeness for now to focus again on the sharks above, “You outnumber our Frenzy four to one, and though we’d win, we’d lose some of our Frenzy as well. Joel won’t risk Ray or Adam in that if it can be avoided.”

As they watched, a large sharktail, one more bristled and decorated than Ryan, with perhaps an extra half foot of length to him, met three trident wielding fishtails above the shoal. They clicked and sung to each other for some time, but the two in hiding couldn’t quite hear it where they were.

“What’s the proposal?” Jeremy asked curious and scared.

“Your Schools of food.” Ryan crooned softly, feeling the slight sting of Jeremy's smaller claws as the fishtails hand balled into a fist against the sharktails chest, “It’s why I came. To warn you. When we met five months ago, you were close to banishment. If your people agree, wouldn’t you be one of the ones who go hungry?”

Jeremy nodded sharply than sighed, “And I got a clutch to care for…”

He yelped as Ryan grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back, holding him there as he looked into his face, “A clutch?! You mated?”

“My parents made me man.” Jeremy whined rapidly, worried about the shark so close to him now, “It was that or banishment! She laid our clutch like two days ago, they are just eggs at the moment but in 3 months I’m gonna be a pappa… whether I wanted it or not.”

Ryan relaxed slightly and let him go, rubbing the back of his neck ruefully as he looked away, “Sorry… I just… So you haven’t, um, found anyone you licked? I mean liked?!”

“We’re talking about this *now?*” Jeremy asked flabbergasted by Ryan's timing, gesturing towards the crisis happening above his home, “Dude-”

“I got your human stuff. Your aboveworlder collection? I found it and hid it all in our ship-” Ryan was enthusiastic now, wanting to tell Jeremy everything he’d missed but now it was the fishtails turn to slap a hand on Ryan's face.

“Focus.” Jeremy said sternly, watching as the fishtails got agitated swimming around each other, brandishing their tridents threateningly. Ryan watched as well when Jeremy's hand dropped.

Their hands found each other as they watched an argument develop, the fishtail leader threatened the shark tail with their trident. They pointed the trident at the shark and pricked their stomach with it.

Ryan grabbed Jeremy curling him away from their view hole, covering his head as the sharks swarmed. Jeremy got a glimpse of the lead shark tail, the one called Heyman, grab the fishtails slender wrist and yank them into his opening jaws.

Jeremy shuddered in Ryan's grip as the sharks tore through the three, hearing the screams and the sounds of a brief battle. A few minutes later and the water was chum, the sharks taking their time to feed.

“We need to go.” Ryan said hurriedly, “Now they’ve scented blood, they’ll attack the shoal!”

Jeremy's eyes widened than he jabbed Ryan in the gills, Ryan curling away from the pain with a grunt, “Sorry!” Jeremy hissed at him and wiggled out of his grip, “That’s my family in there!”

“Jeremy no!” Ryan reached after him but the Fishtail was more slimline and much faster than the larger shark. Jeremy darted through the corals and rocks, anemones brushing him with no affect as he sped towards home. The sharks had gathered themselves and were now throwing themselves down towards the shoals, the screams and panic of the fishtails heard over the distance.

Jeremy pushed himself faster, no idea what he’d do but his heart pounded and he was filled with the instinct to school with his family, the fishtails gathering together to defend themselves with tridents as they fled. The sharktails were grabbing anyone they could, ripping them apart, cracking open coral homes to get at the vulnerable inside. Children were pushed into the anemones, their larger parents and siblings drawing the sharktails away from the younger generation protected by the stinging frond. Eggs were not that lucky.

Jeremy had made it to his school, grabbing a sibling and turning in the water with them, “My clutch?!” He asked and they shook their head sadly. Jeremy felt his throat close up but there was no time to grieve for the clutch he never asked for but loved all the same as a trident was shoved into his hands and he was pushed towards the outer of the school.

Ryan swum after Jeremy, but he was built for endurance, not speed and soon lost the fishtail into the scattering school. Instead he joined the Sharks as they broke open the coral and feasted on the clutches within. Ryan's stomach rumbled at the taste of blood in the water and he couldn’t help but join his brethren in feasting on salty delicious fishtail eggs.

The school had gone, but the sharktails didn’t pursue them. The young were well hidden in the anemones and Joel declared that his people were to leave them alone.

“After all, with a feast of this seasons clutches, we need them to regrow the school.” Joel pointed out wisely and his younger mate, the browner skinned young sharktail Ray, swum to his side and was tucked under an arm. Ryan watched in slight jealousy as Ray carefully placed a egg to Joel’s lips and the leader turned his head to eat it.

Ryan pulled his eyes away from the care between the two, especially when Adam joined them with a partial fishtail in his hands, to the eggs he was eating. He hoped this wasn’t Jeremy's clutch, but Ryan was so hungry, he couldn’t stop shoveling them in. Each egg were the size of his fist and they popped with flavour in his mouth.

Jeremy along with the rest of the school, looked back once they were no longer pursued, a low mourning wail coming from the fishtails as they watched this seasons clutches be devoured. Jeremy felt numb, watching his home being rampaged, their homes broken and their Eggs eaten. He knew Ryan must be somewhere in that frenzy and he didn’t know how he felt about that.

“Jeremy!” his father found him and pulled him into a hug, “Oh Jeremy! Your mother and two of your siblings… I can’t believe they attacked like this!”

Jeremy pet his father’s back lamely, eyes still on the shoal as they schooled together with fear, “They were hungry. They’ll be another season.”

His father didn’t hear him, having spotted another child, “Lisa!” and rushed to hug Jeremy's sister. Jeremy tried to process his mother was gone. Eaten by sharktails. _Eaten_  by _sharktails_...

Jeremy's hand tightened on his trident, mouth thinning as he spotted a familiar long haired sharktail swim from one coral home to another. Ryan must have been starving to join the frenzy in their feast.

Ryan had filled his mouth and arms with eggs and was trying to leave before he could be stopped. This was not how he had wanted this to go, but he had to work with the circumstances. He tried to slip away but a trill made him stop.

“Ryan? Where you going?” Ray asked, flitting closer, his eye curious on the armfuls of eggs Ryan was fleeing with, “Your leaving? Again?”

“I don’t think I’m welcome here.” Ryan said a bit stiffly, heart hurting to see Ray. Ray had been the shark for him, but he’d chosen Joel over Ryan. Ray had told the distraught Sharkman that Joel was more stable, less likely to be picked up by an above world ship since Joel was leader of the frenzy. He could provide, feed their pups and be willing to stay with Ray in their home. Ryan was a dreamer, who explored the sea while Ray just wanted a home and a family.

“You would be. If you just stayed.” Ray told him, flitting closer, Dark eyes calling to him. Ryan tipped his head and flared his gills in a sigh.

“No. I wouldn’t. I didn’t want this.” he hefted the eggs in explanation, “if I weren't so goddamn hungry I’d have never joined you all.”

“WE are all this hungry Rye, you can’t judge us!” Ray exclaimed, confused by Ryan's view on egg stealing, “I mean we only ate like twelve fishtails and we let the rest go! What more do you want from us?”

“Compassion?” Ryan challenged looking sharply at ray than softing his gaze as he murmured, “From us all… Including myself. These were going to be full grown fishtails one day. Now they are breakfast.”

“The fishtails will recover, Rye, please. Don’t… Don’t go.” Ray begged, placing a slight hand on Ryan's forearm. It took all of Ryan's willpower to yank it away, letting the eggs fall from his arms as in explaining to Ray why this was wrong reminded himself. Now with food in his stomach, as much as it hungered for more, it was easier to say no.

“That’s not the point Ray. You know its not.” he told him heavily, reaching as if to cup Rays cheek but curling his fingers away at the last moment. Ray was no longer his to touch. “Goodbye Ray.”

“Ryan!” Ray tried to follow but Joel had noticed the two and sped to his mates side, catching his elbow and pulling him back, “Ray-Ray. Let him go. You know he’s never chosen you.”

Ray bit a thin lip and nodded, turning into Joel's comforting arms. The leader enclosed his slight mate into his chest, petting his hair tendrils lovingly. He glared at the fleeing sharktail, hating him because he knew, had Ryan decided to stay, to fully embrace their society, Ray would choose him over Joel. And Joel adored his Mate very much. He’d not let anything threaten to take Ray from him. He’d kill before that happened.

\--

Ryan was expecting this visit, just not so soon. He’d barely settled into his hammock after the attack on the shoal when he saw the flash of furious orange and purple speeding towards him. Jeremy must have followed him from the reef, but though the fishtail was faster, Ryan had better endurance and out swam him over the distance to the sunken ship.

“Jer-” Ryan tried to greet him but the fishtail hit him in the middle, constricting his gills and slamming him into the wall, above world knickknacks floating around them in the disturbed water. Jeremy’s smaller claws still stung as he started to slash, Ryan grabbing his wrists quickly before too much damage could be done.

“You bastard! You fucking bastards!” Jeremy tugged at his hands, trying to get them free, tail whipping, smacking objects and Ryan himself. Ryan only prevented Jeremy from attacking him, he didn’t hurt him back, looking at the merman with sympathy.

“You ate them! You ate them you _animal!”_

“I’m sorry.”

“You monster! You sick fuck!”

“I’m so sorry. I was starving, please understand.”

“I understand alright! You're a fucking monster! My people were right about you!”

Ryan sighed eyes full with Jeremy's pain, “They were… I am a filthy shark. I ate those eggs Jeremy, I dunno if they were yours or not but… I ate them.”

Jeremy glared at him before his face crumbled and he started to sob, pressing his face into Ryan's chest. Ryan let his wrists go and Jeremy immediately wrapped them around the shark who hugged him awkwardly back.

“I’m s-sorry.” Jeremy’s voice caught, “S’not your f-fault.”

Ryan hugged him more naturally, the two settling onto the ship floor, petting his hair frond sympathetically, “You lost a lot today.” Ryan pointed out, “Your allowed to be as furious at me as you want.”

“No… You're my friend Ryan… You tried to warn me.” Jeremy shook his head and calmed a little, adjusting his head more comfortably on the smooth pec of the shark, “I just… I didn’t ask for them but still, those eggs were going to be my spawn. and. My mother..."

“I’m sorry they are gone.” Ryan spoke softly, “I’m sorry I was part of it.”

“You had no choice.” Jeremy forgave him, finger tracing a claw mark don Ryan's belly, “They don’t like you and you _were_  starving…”

“...Still friends?” Ryan asked cautiously and Jeremy peeped up at him from under Ryan's chin. As the fishtail smiled, Ryan's heart stuttered and he knew they were in no way friends, at least not on his side. An urge to protect and care overtook him, stronger than when he’d loved Ray.

“Course Rye. Always.” He answered and shifted back as the shark tried to gather his wits. 

“Good.” Ryan gave him a sharp toothed smile back, “I’ll escort you home.”

“Oh everyone is recovering” Jeremy said face falling a little, “So they didn’t notice me leave… I’ll try to sneak out more often now. I missed you.”

Ryan again felt the heart stutter, “I missed you too.” so little time spent with him and yet, Jeremy had an energy and kindness that Ryan couldn’t help being attracted too. He just hoped the fishtail would really like to continue their friendship and that Ryan won't do anything that will make Jeremy look at him with fear.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's mer-smut for the first half just fyi  
> after the second --- is the none smutty bit

The water was warm and so was Ryan. He hugged himself, rubbing his hands on his upper frills, trying to stay centred as the scent of mating sharks wafted in the water. It was with jealousy and a little longing that Ryan watched Joel claim his youngest Mate, Ray chirping happily as Joel took him in the mating embrace as Adam awaited another turn, his mating mark deep and still oozing.

Ryan felt his eyes dilate, his vision growing stronger as he fought the mating urge. He couldn’t win a fight with Joel, never had. And if he fought for Ray now, Joel would kill him. Ryan ignored the other Sharks pairing up, spurning any interest coming his way. Though odd, he was a great specimen of a sharktail and some were willing to overlook the oddness for the genetic material he’d provide to potential pups.

Ryan watched Joel clasp Ray close to him, saw them spin in the mating dance and in his mind eye, he imagined himself there instead. He imagined his own mouth, parting over pliant flesh, the taste of blood in his mouth as he claimed a mate. 

Ryan pulled his eyes away with effort, smoothing his hands down his front, feeling the swollen opening where his claspers were hardening rapidly, threatening to spill out of his tail. He had to get away from here, had to flee from these waters until the season had passed. He could come back when the sharks had whelped, joining the migration for food.

What he definitely could not do, was go anywhere near Jeremy, the fishtail having starred in many a dream now, and with his season upon him, Ryan could think of no one better to be swollen with his pup.

\--

Jeremy didn’t understand what had happened. The past few months had been great; Jeremy slipping away again to collect aboveworld items and hang out with Ryan. Together they were making the sunken ship they met in into a beautiful horde of pretty things. 

They had been talking about how they had felt misplaced in their respective homes, and Jeremy was concerned for the injuries Ryan was always sporting, evidence of his Frenzy picking on him. Jeremy had been given up on by the shoal community who all but shunned him. They did not banish him only because of their low numbers, but now Jeremy had refused to seed another clutch, with this next lot of eggs near hatching, Jeremy was worried about his place.

But now Ryan had disappeared. He’d not met Jeremy the last few days, and Jeremy worried that his friend had been killed. It was with that worry in mind, that Jeremy decided that day to swim the opposite direction to their meet up spot. He wouldn’t swim all the way to the Frenzy’s caverns, but he could start in that direction.

As he went, Jeremy stuck close to the corals and anemones, his bright colours blending with the reef. Only as they became more sporadic, did he grow more concerned for himself. In the reef, he was invisible, in open water he was a target. 

A shiny glint caught his eye and Jeremy broke off his search to flit down to the silt, brushing away the loose sand to reveal a little bright box, his dull reflection in the metal looking back at him. He grinned, placing the small box within his pouch, hoping that he’d find Ryan soon and be able to gift the Sharktail with another oddity from above.

As he placed it inside, much like when they first met, Jeremy looked up. This time when he saw the shape of the sharktail above, blocking the sun, Jeremy didn’t get scared. He extended a hand, trilling a greeting at his friend.

“RYAN! Hey Ryan!” Jeremy yelled happily, overjoyed to find his friend was ok, the coloured scales around his wrist catching the sunlight through the water. Ryan looked down sharply, and Jeremy had a moment of doubt he pushed away, his hand slowly falling back to his side. Ryan's eyes were the pure black of a shark on the hunt.

“R-ryan?” Jeremy said with a nervous chuckle, “Hey, it’s just me… Your old pal Jeremy remember?”

Surely Ryan wouldn’t hunt  _ him... _ \- Ryan dived.

“Oh no.” Jeremy’s stomach fell out as he fled, bag abandoned the first instant it caught of rocks. He was smaller, his fins made for swimming in tight spaces and he used that now, gills working overtime at his neck. He was built for quick getaways and he curved and arched through the reef, trying to avoid the shark that stalked him. Ryan busted through what he couldn’t avoid, trying to follow him, mouth open in a snarl and webbed hands extended towards his prey.

Jeremy felt the loom of panic when Ryan's webbed hand cut dual lines in his tail tip, the sharp pain causing true panic, “RYAN! RYAN NO! NO!” he squealed as he darted away again, Ryan ripping through the coral arms that had blocked him from his quarry. He’d not spoke at all and Jeremy’s eyes looked for any way out of this chase.

His eyes found a hole in the rockface and Jeremy swam towards it just as Ryan broke through the coral with a roar. Jeremy put on a spurt of speed and got into the hole, shimmying his hips desperately to get into the tight space. He could see there was a second exit, a small tunnel through the rock but his concentration was pulled back to the entrance he’d come through.

“Ryan please no! Fish is fatty! You don’t want to eat me!” Jeremy begged the snarling shark as Ryan tried to grab him. He moved out of arm's length of the shark, seeing Ryan's eyes were completely feral black and regarding him with predator intelligence. Jeremy fanned his frills, begging with his eyes as much as with words, “Ryan, we’re friends remember? Please don’t eat me…”

Ryan didn’t speak, calming slightly as he stopped trying to get in, regarding him cooly. Suddenly he grunted and with a whoosh of water, disappeared. Jeremy tried to get his breathing under control, his heart hammering as he watched the entrance warily.

“...Rye?...” Jeremy called cautiously after a full minute, wiggling in the tight space to have a proper look outside, ready to retract into the hole again, “Ryan? Are you… Are you still hungry?”

Outside the ocean as clear. No Shark in sight. Jeremy swallowed hard and pulled his head back to consider his next move.

Jeremy yelped as a sharply tipped hand grabbed his elbow, yanking him through the tight tunnel towards the other exit. Ryan had idened the hole quietly as Jeremy's heartbeat had been in his ears and now the fishtail struggled, the sharktail as determined to draw him out.

“NO! NO! NO! NO!” Jeremy yelped over and over, trying to get back into his hole, but Ryan's grip was too strong, dragging him thrashing and wailing into open water. Jeremy’s life flashed before his eyes as he was taken into clear water, facing Ryan and closing his eyes from the terrible sight of his friends mouth opening wide and coming for his face.

Jeremy screamed as teeth punctured his shoulder, the pain sharp and his tail thrashed, but Ryan had grabbed him with both arms now, constricting around his caught prey, pressing them belly to belly. Jeremy expected Ryan to rip now, cursing his own foolishness for ever befriending a sharktail when he realised Ryan had done nothing else to him but latch.

Once he realised he wasn’t instantly going to die, Jeremy opened his eyes again. Ryan’s arms weren’t pulling him apart, but drawing him into an embrace, his tail becoming synced with Jeremy's own. Jeremy was held tight to the sharktail and Jeremy meeped in surprise as he felt something prod at his tail.

Realisation washed over him like a cool current.

Ryan wasn’t eating him, Ryan was  _mating_ him!

The sharktail, for his part, couldn’t explain to the fishtail what was happening. He was too caught up in the mating urge, his chosen one in his arms. He barely noticed as Jeremy's hands cautiously came around his neck, instead searching with his extending Claspers for Jeremy's slit. When he found it, he drove them forward in the water as with a push of his tail, he sunk into the fishtail. 

Jeremy cried out as he was entered, their tails twisting further together, and the bite fading from sharp pain to dull ache as the fishtail started to get aroused by the mating. His gills fluttered at his neck as the sharktail had his way and Jeremy pressed his face to Ryan's shoulder.

Ryan had murmured in satisfaction as he successfully entered the Merman, and now he had settled into attaching himself. His claspers pulsed as he started to flick his tail end, sending them into a lazy spin as he rubbed rhythmically against his chosen mate. Jeremy shuddered and gasped in his grip prompting Ryan to give a warning rumble, hands spread over the small of Jeremy's back under his dorsal fin and grip on Jeremy's shoulder deeping. 

They twisted with each violent slash of Ryan's tail, writhing together through the ocean and dully, underneath the pleasure that was building with each drive of Ryan’s claspers inside him, Jeremy realised this was why Ryan had needed him in open water. Less chance to hit anything this way. This was already much more enjoyable than the fertilisation of eggs even with the mating bite causing to Jeremy whimper in Ryan's ear.

It was so much more fulfilling to Jeremy to be receiving and he felt his body opening to Ryan's, giving his own flicks of tail to meet Ryan's thrusts. He wanted to feel fuller, the dual claspers not quite satisfying him the longer the mating went on. He needed more but he wasn’t sure what.

Ryan felt Jeremy submit completely, groaning with his black eyes half lidded, his firm pushes speeding up as his pleasure grew. He had no control of their direction, to focused on breeding his mate, drifting aimlessly through the water. Jeremy was making the sweetest keens and clicks in his ear fills with each wiggle of Ryan's body against his.

Ryan could feel the urge to release rising as with every press, the fishtail in his grip made a higher noise clearly nearing his endurance as well, trembling more as the mating went on. Ryan's eyes fully closed and he rumbled as he started to pulse, filling the space within his mate with his seed as his body commanded him. Jeremy cried out, shaking and gasping as his tail flickered madly, trying to press hard into Ryan, tried to take him as deep as possible as he went through his own intense orgasm. 

Only once the last spurt had left Ryan's claspers to settle inside his mate, did Ryan's eyes return to a more normal blue. He found himself a bit dazed by the mating and held Jeremy close by instinct to make sure his seed caught within the fishtail before any other shark could claim him. He blinked and retracted his grip on Jeremy's shoulder, closing his aching jaw and looking almost surprised at the bite he’d left behind.

Ryan now felt warm from shame instead of a mating need, looking to see Jeremy had his eyes squeezed shut, his mouth open as he rapidly funneled water through his neck gills as he panted in Ryan's arms. Ryan very carefully nuzzled Jeremy's cheek, his now mate could break his heart now by rejecting him. Ryan could only pray Jeremy would be angry instead of fearful.

“Jeremy?” Ryan sounded fearful himself as Jeremy's eyes flickered open and caught his gaze.

“Ryan?” Jeremy asked weakily, wondering if Ryan was now himself again. Apparently so as Ryan's face screwed up with guilt and he nuzzled Jeremy again.

“I’m so sorry… I didn’t think to warn you, I thought I could avoid you-” but Jeremy had been here. Near shark waters. The idea made him squeeze the fishtail hard, eyes flicking out to scan the water for threats against his new mate. Wether Jeremy accepted him or not, Ryan had mated him, had marked him and now would protect him for life. 

“It’s your season?” Jeremy asked instead of yelling at him, staying pliant and relaxed in Ryan's arms. Ryan was thankful for that, they were stuck together while his claspers were swollen inside Jeremy, the fishtails slit clinging back and they needed to wait to disjoin. He prayed Jeremy's senses wouldn’t return just yet and cause the fishtail to hurt himself trying to pull away before their bodies were ready.

“It is.” Ryan had never wanted to claim Jeremy like this. In his fantasies, he’d explained everything to the fishtail and Jeremy had begged to be his mate, expressing his love for Ryan. Ryan knew it was too late but he had to explain, “I was trying to stay away from you. Trying to stay in deep water to ride the season out. But then you were here and you called out to me and-”

“Instinct took over.” Jeremy finished for him, showing more understanding than Ryan had been expecting. In fact the fishtail looked so relaxed and his hooded eyes stoked desire in the sharktail again as a lazy smile spread on Jeremy's face as if he could see Ryan's thoughts.

“You’re so kind to me Jeremy, so fun to be with. I-I knew I might have- so I avoided you because- then you were here-” Ryan stopped and started, trying to explain himself, startled when Jeremy chuckled.

“Well I’m just glad you weren’t trying to eat me. Cause if you had eaten me I couldn’t do this.”

Ryan's tail flicked in surprise, sending them into another spin as Jeremy cupped Ryan's face and pulled him down into a kiss. Love burnt through him from the tip of his tail to the top of his head and Ryan found himself kissing back almost desperately.

“So, you mean, you don’t hate me?” He asked between smacks of lips, Jeremy's meep of amusement banishing the doubt inside the sharktail.

“Hate you? I love you Ryan!”

“Love me?” Ryan’s face split into a shark smile that had Jeremy kissing him again in delight. Ryan entertained him for a moment before pulling back his head to look deep into Jeremy's eyes, “I love you. You’re my mate now Jeremy.”

“Yes well, the bite will be a bit hard to explain, but I’m sure…” Ryan frowned as Jeremy spoke, realising he didn’t understand. Ryan pressed a hand to Jeremy's mouth than cupped his chin to make him look up at him.

“No, mates are permanent for sharktails. This mark means your mine now. To provide and protect. I won’t go home to the frenzy, I must stay with you, I must keep you from all harm.”

“Ryan. You can’t come home with me!” Jeremy exclaimed but Ryan just stared at him, “I got to go home to the shoal! They’ll kill you on sight.”

“You’re my mate.” Ryan reiterated, “I’ll stay hidden, but I must be near you. I must protect you Jeremy.”

Jeremy shook his head and was thankful as Ryan's claspers slipped free. They managed to separate, a bit of space between their bodies again though Ryan kept his arms around the fishtail, “Ryan, you got to be joking.”

“Not at all. Your my mate. I can’t go back to the frenzy. I need to be with you. Just explain to your shoal that I’m your mate. Maybe they’ll let me in.” Ryan suggested. Jeremy was shaking his head but Ryan frowned, adamant, “than I’ll stay nearby. You can sleep in the shoal and I’ll see you during light hours.”

He didn’t like the idea much but he’d do that for Jeremy. Jeremy was still shaking his head, pushing against Ryan's chest with his hands but not being let go of. It had been an up and down afternoon, fear for Ryan's loss, joy at finding him, deep terror of the chase and the pleasure of the mate. The Love they’d finally confessed had given Jeremy a lot to think over.

“Ryan I need time.” Jeremy tried and this time Ryan let him go, watching him carefully as Jeremy flitted back from him, “I need time to think.”

“Ok.” Ryan agreed more easily than Jeremy had expected, “Think it over. But know for me, you are and always will be my mate. I adore you Jeremy, I love you and I will always be close to protect you.”

Jeremy gave him a long look before facing home, starting that way with lots of long looks over his shoulder. Ryan watched him go, giving him a head start before he followed. He now had a mate, and wether Jeremy decided to mate him back, Ryan's shoulder bare for now, Ryan would follow him till death.

\--

“That sharktail is still around. Marcus spotted him yesterday.”

“Do you think they are coming for the fresh eggs?”

“I dunno, but something's got to be done.”

Jeremy groaned to overhear the conversation as he helped harvest the kelp for the nesting fishtails. Ryan had been true to his word, keeping a distance from the shoal but still a constant presence. Jeremy had barely calmed his people when his Dad had spotted the bite at his shoulder. He claimed he’d gotten away but now the whole shoal was nervous for another attack.

Jeremy reached out and gathered another bunch in his hand, sawing away at the base with his coral knife, putting the detached strands in his collecting pouch. The work left plenty of time to think. Think about his Mother, and how she had died. Think about his siblings and their fear. Think about the clutch that never got a chance to hatch.

All because of Sharktails.

But Ryan was different. Jeremy didn’t look at him and see a predator of his people. He saw the only merman that understood him. He saw a friend, who flubbed his words and over explained himself constantly. Someone to share a common humour, a desire for more, an obsession with collecting uncommon objects.

Jeremy felt different about Ryan than anyone else in his life. Ryan gave him fluttering feelings in his belly, like he had angelfish in there. They could spend hours chatting about nothing or swimming in companionable silence. They worked well together, and Jeremy treasured Ryan's laugh above all else.

Than there was the mating… Jeremy gave a secret little shudder at the memory. Perhaps it was because he’d been so scared to begin with, but it had been the most intensely pleasurable thing in his life. He’d never felt more complete than being held so close and tight as Ryan had filled him in ways Jeremy hadn’t experienced before but had longed to try.

Now Ryan was stalking him, though true to his word, Ryan had kept his distance, letting Jeremy think things over. All Jeremy could think was how much he really liked Ryan. How much he loved him. 

Perhaps his shoal would be happy to have a protector. Ryan ate cod, just like them, perhaps more but still. They keep him fed and they had a shark protector to keep them safe. And they needed the numbers, needed to expand. Why not have a member that could protect them and, it seemed, breed with them.

Jeremy touched his stomach, feeling the tightness under skin, barely showing yet, but he knew Ryan’s seed had taken and a clutch was expanding inside him, waiting to be lain. Jeremy didn’t think a fishtail and sharktail could be a viable combination but they seemed to be more similar than he first thought. As nervous as he was, Jeremy couldn’t turn away from this clutch. He’d been neglectful of his first clutch and lost them. He would not make the same mistake twice.

As his choice solidified inside him, he dropped off the basket of kelp to the collectors pile and than swam out towards the deeper water. Some of the kelp collectors saw him go and called for him to come back to safety, but Jeremy had always been impulsive, making snap decisions. He needed to move while he had confidence.

He heard the screams and panic of his people as Ryan instantly came out of hiding, joining Jeremy in the water, clear to the fish tails behind them.

“Jeremy, what are you doing?” Ryan asked in concern, Jeremy couldn’t be out in the open water, it was too dangerous. His beautiful bright mate however showed no fear, coming towards him, arms outstretched, Ryan meeting him and their hands joining at the elbows as Jeremy twisted them in the water.

“I’ve made my decision.” Jeremy declared with a happy trill, “You need to come explain to my people how you’re different and you can come live with me here and help me raise the hatchlings.”

Ryan broke into a disturbing Shark smile that Jeremy loved, “Really? I can- wait. Did you say raise the hatchlings?” he blinked quickly and moved a hand too Jeremy's stomach, “They caught? You’re having my pup?”

“Hatchlings,” Jeremy corrected, not sure what this ‘pup’ business was but he nodded, “Yeah, I can tell. It’s true Rye, were gonna be parents!”

Ryan brought him in for a hug, spinning them as fishtails started towards them with tridents, shouting at him to get away, to let Jeremy go. Jeremy turned and frowned, in his joy and excitement forgetting that his people don’t yet understand. He twisted in Ryan's arms, Ryan not letting him go yet, ready to push the fishtail behind himself. 

It was with Ryan's hands on his belly and looking sternly over his shoulder that Jeremy addressed the scouts coming to ‘rescue’ him, “Hey! Fella’s its ok! He’s not hurting me!”

The fishtails schooled together at Jeremy's assurance, before one moved a little out from the group, “Jeremy, come away from it.”

“No. This is Ryan. Ryan's good.” Jeremy started to explain, gesturing up at Ryan's face which unfortunately had its teeth bared in response to the weapons so close to his mate, “He’s- see the thing- he wants to join us.”

“ _Join_  us?!” they exclaimed in disgust, “It’s a shark! Jeremy come away from it now! Your weirdness can’t excuse this!”

“Jeremy?” Someone had fetched Jeremy's father who was timidly approaching, staying behind the trident wielders, “Jeremy, what’s going on?”

“Dad.” Jeremy sighed to see him, surely his father would love him regardless, “Dad, this is Ryan. He’s good. He just wants to join us and help protect the shoal.”

Jeremy's father eyed the shark over, than looked at his son in the sharktails grip, saw the bite in a new light now with a ‘friendly’ sharktail; noticed the slight rise in stomach with the webbed hands framing it. He put all the clues together and Jeremy saw shame and grief wash over his father's face.

“You _mated_  with it?” he asked slow, the other fishtails recoiling in disgust, “These creatures ate your mother. They ate your siblings, your clutch! And you mated with one?”

Jeremy’s face heated, and he looked down at his stomach, at Ryan's hands, “It wasn’t him-”

“Look at you! Are you swelling with that things young?” Jeremy's father asked clearly hoping he was wrong. He wasn’t however and Jeremy knew know he’d made a mistake so openly going to Ryan without thinking it through.

“Yes…” He sounded so small, so ashamed, Ryan held him tighter, nuzzling his cheek and glaring at those who were hurting his feelings.

“Jeremy cares about you all, despite how you treat him.” Ryan snapped at them, the fish tails drawing together and away from the angry shark, “He’s the most kind, the most fun, the most interesting merman in this entire ocean. For him, I would be willing to help protect your reef, to join you here and raise *our* pups here.”

“Protect my son.” Jeremy's father said simply, eyes screwing up with suppressed sobs as he looked upon his child, “Jeremy, I hereby Banish you from our family, our school and this reef.”

Jeremy's mouth popped open and Ryan had to adjust his grip to keep the merman from throwing himself at his father, “Dad no!”

“You have sixty beats to leave.” A trident wielder said sternly, “Do not darken our waters again.”

Ryan pulled Jeremy back, his mate thrashing, trying to get to his dad, “No! Dad! Come on! He’s not going to harm us!” Jeremy begged, “Please dad, don’t do his!”

Jeremy's father turned his head away, some of Jeremy's siblings coming up from the kelps to comfort him as their brother was driven out. The fishtails followed them, jabbing tridents in their direction as Ryan pulled Jeremy with him. Jeremy wailed his grief, but Ryan knew they needed to get away.

Jeremy was Banished, Ryan knew he couldn’t take a fishtail home, so there was only one place they could go. Their ship in the middle of nowhere would now be their sanctuary.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> https://bara-kick.tumblr.com/image/174547023985  
> OMG BARAKICK otherwise known as SHIYAA is a GODDESS OF ART, ALL BOW!  
> So, ahead is death and gore, as well as cannibalism(?) I guess?  
> Also I can't figure out how to say it without saying it so fyi, the 'feminine' Merfolk do not have boobs. There are no boobs in the ocean folks, sorry to disappoint, but the 'feminine' ones do have curves to their shape.  
> Lastley, the Blue bands on his arms in the picture are from Jeremy and he's a sneaky Boi cause its actauly Fishtail custom to both introduce yourself with proper pronouns and also paint such markings to indicate what you identifie as ;) just a little fun lore you guys might like

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never written M-Preg before this fic so go easy on me? constructive criticism is welcome; nasty comments are not

Jeremy came to terms with being banished, though he still grieved and was lonely; He had never truly fit in, and he was finally free of societies pressures to be who and what they wanted him to be. Over the next six weeks, he and Ryan turned their get away, into a home and Jeremy entered a more happy stage of his life.

Ryan was great company. He showed Jeremy how to tie back his hair fronds into the same seahorse tail as Ryan's own. In return, Jeremy showed Ryan how to make adornments as well as body decoration and the Blue upper arm band Jeremy dyed onto him was something Ryan adored. They both cooed over Jeremy's growing stomach, the slight bulge becoming more pronounced. 

Both were confident that this pregnancy would work the way they had been taught pregnancies work and neither considered the fact they were growing hybrid eggs. And so neither thought to talk about it at all with their partner. Ryan was sure Jeremy would birth a healthy pup and Jeremy was nesting, preparing to lay a clutch of eight to eighteen eggs.

Something common to both merspeices however was the stomach problems, and Ryan learnt the best algae to collect to settle Jeremy's stomach. They used up as much as they could find around the ship, and so one day Ryan had to go out to find another source of the green slime for his nauseous mate.

Jeremy waved Ryan off and retreated back into the ship, preparing himself for a boring day. The downside to their arrangement was that Jeremy was a school fish. He had nine still living siblings, and everyone in the shoal was at least cousins. He was used to a large amount of social contact, and even his preference for solitude didn’t take away the fact he did need a society to be a healthy thriving adult.

He rearranged their quarters again, adjusting their sleeping nook to another corner and moving the pretty adornments to highlight it. He loved sleeping in tight spaces, and Ryan was growing used to snuggling in beside him, holding him tight. That done, Jeremy drifted out into the main hall, looking over their above world things, making sure the knick knacks were grouped like, with like. He had an impressive collection of dinglehoppers now, some snarfblatt, a few boxes and shiny rocks set in lines of shiny material.

When Ryan was gone, the loneliness set in and Jeremy drifted out to swim to the top of the mast, looking for something interesting. Dolphins sometimes swam by or even a sea turtle. He had nothing else to do but settle in the nest up there and look out over the ocean, one hand on his stomach and comforting himself when the eggs hatched, he’d have more company than he’d know what to do with.

Jeremy was meant to stay inside when Ryan was out but Jeremy hated being cooped up alone. He hoped Ryan would bring back some food as well as algae and he was looking up dreamily thinking of oysters and crab when he saw it.

A sharktail, up near the surface, swimming through the sun. Jeremy smiled, remembering with fondness what seemed like an age ago when he’d met Ryan. He did now what he wished he’d done then, waving and calling out, not letting fear and prejudice get in the way of a new friend.

“Hey there! How’s the current today?” he called out friendly, his scales catching in the light, the only brightly coloured thing near this sandbar. As Ryan had, this shark looked down and now Jeremy could see their eyes, a feral black above a deep red beard.

It was definitely NOT mating season.

“Ho fuck.” Jeremy swore softly as he realised his mistake before he threw himself over the side of the nest and swum with all the speed he could muster towards the entrance to the ship. Unfortunately, he was no longer as streamlined as he used to be, and the eggs weighed him down, stealing his breath quickly. 

In through the broken side he went, the sharktail crashing on his tail tip, ripping the tables out of the floor as he propelled himself after the smaller merman. Jeremy knocked a bunch of items off a table between them, an above world cloth settling over the sharktails furious face. Jeremy took the chance to dart through the open window Ryan had been trying to get through all that time ago. 

Now in the kitchen, Jeremy made for the door, swinging the rotting wood out and twisting into the confined hallways. He was too scared to look back, but he could hear the shark ripping through the opening, the sound of teeth and claws making short work of the obstacle. Jeremy darted down stairs, finding himself in a storage area with no way out but where he’d just come from. 

Jeremy's heart hammered, and he spun about, looking desperately for something when he spotted the porthole. He rushed too it, the sounds of the enraged shark beating its way through the halls after him inspiring Jeremy to greater strength, pushing the window out.

“COME HERE LITTLE FISH!” the Shark bellowed, “I’M ONLY GOING TO EAT YOU!”

“Not today” Jeremy promised himself and shoved his arm through. At that moment however, the shark ripped through the door, splinters and wood filling the room as the hungry predator spotted him. Jeremy pulled his hand out of the window and backed away as the Shark fought its way into the room, snarling madly as it used its mouth and hands to make itself room to get in through the doorway.

Jeremy breathed hard, gills fluttering rapidly when he saw his chance. The shark was roaring and reaching for him, telling him to stop being difficult when Jeremy struck, grabbing a floating jagged piece of flotsam and jabbing at the sharks vulnerable side, “FUCK OFF YOU BULLY!”

Blood swirled in the water as the sharktail thrashed in pain. Jeremy made for the open porthole, working his head out than his shoulders, starting to laugh in relief as his other arm made it through. He put his hands on the side of the ship, wiggling, ignoring the pain in his dorsal as he tried to get his stomach through. Relief turned to panic as he realized his larger spawn filled body couldn’t fit through such a tight hole and now he was helpless and stuck.

“OH NO!!!” he yelled and grunted, twisting madly, trying to go forwards or back and getting nowhere, “HELP! HELP MEEE!”

Ryan was returning home with his arms full of delicaseys and his pouch draped around his waist filled with algae covered rocks to start their own garden. This way they wouldn’t run out all the time and he could stay home. Sharktails grouped into frenzy’s for convenience more than instinct so he didn’t mind as much as Jeremy, living just the two of them. So Ryan tried to make it up as much as possible.

Today he had brought a few crabs, some mussels still in their shells, a large fish he’d already killed and some kelp to help wash it all down. Ryan was overjoyed to have his mate with him, swelling with pup, he just wished Jeremy hadn’t had to give up so much for him. He’d do his best to make sure Jeremy never regret choosing him however, thus the good’s he was bringing home today.

What alerted him first was the debris floating in the water. Ryan's heart stopped, his gills flaring at his sides as he opened his mouth wide, funneling water in to catch scent. 

Blood.

“...Jeremy…” he breathed, his arms opening to spill the goods to float or sink as he rushed towards the ship. He was horrified at the state of their open room, it had been destroyed and he tasted blood in the water. He knocked floating items away as he followed the destruction, swimming through the ripped open gap into the kitchen.

“Jeremy!” he bellowed, uncaring who heard him. He spent precious moments digging through the destroyed kitchen, hoping Jeremy had twisted himself into a small place within the cupboards to escape whatever had done this. No such luck and so he was through into the tight passage ways, scrapping fins and shoulders on the walls as he called desperately for his mate again, “JEREMY!”

He couldn’t fit any further, getting stuck within a doorway. Blood floated up through the floorboards and deep within the bowels of the ship he heard a shark roar and Jeremy's terrified scream. Ryan's eyes bled black.

“ **JEREMY!!** ” He roared as his body kicked into fight mode. He dug in his hands to the wall and pulled, ripping the softened wood apart and making his way into a state room. He spent no time admiring the new discoveries within before he was throwing his weight into the wall, busting through into the open ocean. 

He speed down, following the curve of the ship and he heard Jeremy clearer now, “HELP ME! OH FUCK LEAVE ME ALONE! AHHHH!!!”

His mate was in terrible pain. Ryan’s brain switched completely to predator and when he saw his mate halfway out a porthole, stuck around his middle, he didn’t hesitate nor answer when Jeremy sobbed his name. He outstretched his arms, breaking through the ship and grabbing the sharktail within.

Jeremy had shrieked with pain as the sharktail clawed deep rivets over his back and down his tail, lifting scales. He had tried to flee through the porthole, but his spawn filled figure hadn’t fit. The shark had only been enraged by his attack, not slowed and now it was ripping into him, clawing with webbed hands, biting his dorsal fin, shaking its head trying to get him back in where it could more easily give him the death blow.

Jeremy had sobbed when he’d seen Ryan, stretching an arm towards him, only to retract in fear and pain as he saw Ryan's face was feral as well. He turned away from the terrible sight, choking on his terror, sure his mate would eat him. He should have had more faith, Ryan busting through the ship itself to get at Jeremy's attacker. 

The porthole came out in one piece, but no longer attached to wood, it slipped over his head and sunk. Jeremy spun away with the force of the break, hitting the sand and curling up there, looking back up at the ship in horror. His body was filled with agony of his wounds, but he was more worried now for his mate, fighting the enemy within the ship.

Ryan was in a rage, it was Jeremy's blood he tasted, his own mate this interloper had tried to eat. He barely registered the features of his enemy, smacking into him with the force of a lightning bolt, slamming him into the opposite wall than the one Ryan had just busted through. His first strike of his fangs got upper arm, twisting and ripping muscle and flesh.

He felt claws scour his hip inreturn, but Ryan dug his clawed hands in, throwing the shark away from him than speeding after. The shark twisted and met him snap for snap, claws raking each other, teeth cutting through skin, both trying to get the hold that would end it. It was when Ryan's hand slashed over softer belly that the shark tried to flee.

Ryan would not let them go so easily, grabbing the dorsal as the shark tried to get out through the new hole in the portside. He pulled them back with a grunt of effort, digging his claws into their gills as blood colored the water darker. The shark thrashed but it worked in Ryan's favor, Ryan pushing forward to get a death grip on the back of their neck.

“PLEASE RYAN NO-” the shark in his arms screamed for mercy but Ryan was too blinded by rage to listen, giving a mighty shake of his head, tearing the back of their neck out. He spat out the chunk and grabbed again, a deeper better hold and gave another shark death shake, breaking the neck this time and only stopping once the body in his grip went completely limp. 

Only once he fell still and no more water came from his gills, did Ryan let them go. His eyes faded back to blue and he panted hard, his body starting to tell him of the various wounds he’d received in that fight, but Ryan's first and only thought was for his mate. 

He left Adam’s body to float forgotten in the ship, not recognizing him during the fight and not caring to look at Joel's mate as he darted down to his own.

“Ryan!” Jeremy cried when he saw him approach, “I’m so sorry! I’m s-so sorrry!”

Ryan gathered the fishtail up into his arms, stroking through his hair fronds and nuzzling him in comfort, “Shhh, it’s ok. It’s going to be ok. We’re going somewhere safe. We’ll go somewhere safer I swear. I got you, I’ll protect you.”

\--

Once Jeremy had calmed down, he treated their injuries than they packed up some pouches for the move. Jeremy packed only his favorites in the aboveworld collection, a few adornments made or gifted by those he had cared about and food. Lots of food.

Ryan packed his mate.

Jeremy was normally a swift fish, but with the added weight of his ongoing pregnancy, it was up to the endurance built Ryan to carry him. Sometimes they would swim slow together, side by side or Jeremy underneath the protection of Ryan's underbelly. But the majority of travel was with Jeremy clinging to Ryan's dorsal fin as they traversed the wide ocean. 

“Where are we even going?” Jeremy asked one night as they huddled together in a crevasse, Ryan having scared the local fish away with his mere presence. Ryan had shrugged, pulling Jeremy closer and pushing half a fish he’d caught at his mate. It soothed his soul to see Jeremy start to eat Ryan's leftovers after already finishing his own, nibbling at the flesh as Jeremy looked up at his mate.

“I had a friend once. She left a long time ago, and she asked me to follow but I… I had things-” Ray “-holding me back. She told me roughly where to go to find her, and that’s who were searching for.”

Jeremy finished his fish before he asked his next question, carefully turning over everything in his mind, “Your friend. She’s a, shark?” He couldn’t help the slight tremble of his hands, the remembered terror of a sharktail attack. Ryan placed his hands over Jeremy's, stilling their shaking.

“She is my friend. She’s like me. Friendly. And you’ll be with me this time. Nothing,” Ryan moved a hand to Jeremy's cheek, “ _ nothing  _ is going to harm you with me around.”

Jeremy believed him, and they set out again. Days past and Jeremy grew more gravid, Ryan pulling him along more often than not now. Finally they had to stop for a long period. Fate blessed them, finding an island that had deep caverns in its side filled with water warmed from a volcano. There they settled to wait out Jeremy's pregnancy.

Jeremy was not unaffected by his ordeal. He swore he could smell sharks in the water, saw their shadows everywhere. If Ryan came too fast from behind cover, Jeremy would shriek and slash at him, his own smaller fangs bared in self defence. He refused to leave the cave in which they’d settled and was anxious whenever Ryan did so. They slept floating together, Ryan towards the entrance and Jeremy twitching in fear in his sleep.

Jeremy was starting to grow anxious about this clutch as well. By now, he should have lain his eggs but his body gave no signs of needing to nest. Sure he did have the urge to eat, to pretty up the cave and snuggle with his mate. But there was nothing to start the laying process, no sign the eggs were mature enough to leave his body.

Ryan was worried about all the stress on his mate, knowing it would soon be time for the eggs to hatch, the first lucky pup would be able to devour the others. He worried Jeremy might be too stressed to be able to support the newly hatched but unborn pup and so he fed Jeremy to excess in an attempt to give his body the best chance.

So when Jeremy awoke one morning to find Ryan gone, he took some steadying breaths. Ryan liked to hunt at night while Jeremy slept so that Jeremy wouldn’t miss him. Jeremy was not going outside without Ryan now, as he had doubled his stomach bulge and slowed further than when he had been attacked.

He shut his eyes, curling around his stomach, trying not to imagine his eggs empty inside him when he heard voices. His eyes snapped open and he grabbed a dinglehopper, the trident-like object a weapon for poking out eyes. He cautiously poked his head out the curve of the cave entrance, peeking to see what the danger was. 

Instead he saw the familiar shape of Ryan, his back to the main cave, the smaller one inside that Jeremy slept in was in deep shadow. He was speaking to another Great White Sharktail, more slender and feminine in shape to Ryan. Her long hair fronds bound back by something bright purple and her chest and arms covered in red painted on markings. She was the brightest Sharktail Jeremy had ever seen but that did not stop him shrinking back a little in instinctual fear as he listened.

“-Can’t do that to him. The stress alone could-” Ryan was speaking and Jeremy trembled slightly when the other shark shook her head. He had faith however that Ryan could defeat her if she attacked so he didn’t flee back to his little home, instead pressing his bright tail against the rockface and leaning out a little further to hear better.

“You’re an idiot, you know that right?” She asked him flatly than gestured towards the cave mouth, Jeremy pulling his head back for a moment before realising she hadn’t seen him, her eyes locked on Ryan's face, “You should have explained everything _b_ _ efore _  you stuck your claspers in him!”

Ryan’s hands came up defensively, “Hey, shhh. You might wake him! Besides, I wasn't really in control at the time.” He hissed warning and the Sharktail rolled her eyes.

“Good! He should wake up! He needs to be told and it seems you’re too jellyfish to do it! and don't give me that 'mating season' crap! Go tell him what you did to him!”

“He’s got to know Meg, cut me a break. If we’re compatible then he must-”

“God, you're so willingly blind. How can someone so smart be so dumb? They lay * _ eggs _ * remember? We’ve eaten them before.”

Jeremy shuddered at her words, remembering the more recent incident. Ryan apparently did too, guiltily swishing his tail and floating back down from being propelled up, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yeah but… Since he caught, maybe they do both, just like they do both genders?”

“... Ryan!” She bit out sharply, Jeremy's confusion growing the longer he listened, “They don’t. Trust me. Now you have to go in there and explain about what the fuck is about to happen to him.”

Jeremy couldn’t stand it any longer, he needed to ask questions and this shark seemed to be friendly. He gathered his courage and zipped out, a flash of purple and orange that hid behind Ryan immediately, dinglehopper still held tight. Ryan twisted slightly, lifting an arm to see his mate peeking out from under it.

“Jeremy!” he exclaimed in surprise but Jeremy didn’t have time for him, pointing the dinglehopper at the female who was smiling at him. All those white teeth…

“Who are you?” Jeremy wanted to know, “How do you know us?”

“My names Meg. I was friends with Ryan a long time ago. You must be Jeremy. I’ve heard alot about you.” She smiled at him again and now Jeremy was relaxing slightly. This was the Friend Ryan had wanted to find and he was so used to Ryan's Shark Smile that Megs didn’t seem so scary to him anymore.

“So, what is it I should know, friend Meg?” Jeremy asked, a little warmth spreading at the sound of her giggle, perking up behind Ryan slightly.

“That your mate is an idiot.” she winked at him, Ryan objecting in fun as Jeremy floated a little higher, no looking over Ryan's shoulder, protected by his body.

“I knew that much. But what about this time?” Jeremy teased his mate and Meg giggled again, smiling at them.

“Oh I like him Ryan.” she told the sharktail then addressed Jeremy directly. “I like you. Your funny. I can see why he likes you.” 

Jeremy blushed and Ryan reached up to stroke Jeremy's face, smiling at him with love in his eyes and happiness that his friend and mate were getting along. Meg pressed her hands together in front of her mouth as she squeaked and did a happy spin.

“Oh! Your so cute!” she gushed, “So happy together it's so good to see-”

“Meg.” Ryan said warningly but she reached out a hand to gently push at his forearm.

“Hush Ryan, I’m  _ giddy _  ok? It’s just so great to finally see you settled down with someone so cool!”

Jeremy blushed harder, ducking again this time from embarrassment as Meg giggled and Ryan sighed but smiled, happy they were getting along. He smiled at his mate and cocked his head towards Meg, “She’s a bit exuberant but means well.”

“Just wait till I tell the pod!” Meg gushed and Ryan looked at her sharply.

“Wait, your in a Frenzy?” He asked, twisting and taking Jeremy into his arms to hold tight. Jeremy pressed close with a little sway of his tail, ducking his head against Ryan's chest. Both were still freshly frightened for Jeremy's safety with sharks after the attack in the ship. Jeremy especially did NOT want to be near a group of shark tails. Meg was ok because she was only one, a friend, and Jeremy was confident Ryan could take her on. More would be too much to ask of the poor fishtails nerves.

Meg crossed her arms and rolled her dark eyes, “No. I said  **Pod,**  boys, calm down. I joined a pod with my own mate.” 

That perked Ryan's interested again, smiling and straightening slightly, though Jeremy stayed in his arms, “You’ve a mate?”

Meg now split in a true loving smile as she nodded, filled with adoration for her mate, “Aha. He’s a fishtail too. Gavin. He’s so sweet and fun Rye, you’ll love him.” she widened her eyes than did a little excited twirl, “Oh! I’ll go get them! I’ll bring them around! Gav and Michael, Lindsay and Geoff! The Jacks would be delighted to meet you both!”

“Wait, are they all sharks?” Jeremy asked but Meg was already swimming away and Jeremy whimpered, nuzzling into Ryan's chest, “please… Can we go back inside? I don’t feel well…”

Ryan agreed and lead him back inside, casting a longing glance at the Sharktail who was quickly disappearing over the rise. He wanted to follow her but his mate came first. Hopefully, Megs pod would not arrive until morning. He needed to think and Jeremy needed to rest.

\--

Joel hid Rays face in his shoulder when they brought the fish nibbled body of Adam back to him. The scouts who had found him, averted their eyes as Joel snarled, baring all his many teeth than roared his grief, throwing his head back. Ray added his own howl of pain, his co-mate dead and now the pup he was carrying would be born alone instead of with Adams. 

“Who did this?!” Joel demanded to know, looking upon Adams ripped out neck, seeing it for what it was… a shark attack, “Who the FUCK did THIS!?”

“The ship… we found him in a ship filled with human stuff.” the scout reported reluctantly, his partner nodding his head and raising his hands helplessly, “The strange one-”

“Ryan?” Ray looked up from against Joel, his dark eyes nearly black but fading back to brown as he calmed slightly, “You think Ryan did this?”

“Ryan?! That backwards Hick fuck? He murdered Adam?!” Joel couldn’t understand it. For Rays sake he had spared Ryan's life. He knew how much his younger mate… the thought trailed off as Joel looked down on the elven shaped face he loved, understanding that he was now Joels  _ only _  mate…

Ray looked back up at him, the care in his eyes could have been for anyone. For Adams death, for Joels grief. Or. For Ryan's blame. Ray knew Ryan only lived because Joel couldn’t bear to hurt Ray by killing the strange shark-tail.

“The rumours sir. From the School on the shoal.” the scout reported as was his duty, though he didn’t want to be the bearer of this news, “The Outcast, he took a fishtail during the mating season. Apparently the fish caught, and they were Banished from the shoal to live with the Outcast.”

“Ryan took a fish for his mate?” Ray repeated, dumbfounded than yelped when Joel shoved him aside, bearing down on the two scouts, face twisted in grief and rage.

“TAKE MY WORDS TO THE OTHERS! RYAN IS NOT JUST OUT CAST BUT OUTLAW! WE WILL WAIT UNTIL AFTER WELP THAN WE SHALL HUNT HIM DOWN FOR THIS! HE WILL NOT LIVE TO SEE US FEAST ON * _ HIS _ * MATE!” Joel stabbed a finger at the archway and roared, “NOW GET OUT!”

They fled and Ray, never before scared of Joel, flinched back, hand curving over his swollen stomach protectively. Joel ignored him however, grabbing Adams limp arm and pulling him closer before bringing the body towards Ray.

“Adam shall always be with us Ray-ray. We will never meet his pup, but his body shall sustain us both.” Joel said, his harsh words thick with feeling. Ray uncoiled and nodded, mouth opening, jaws extending. They feasted together, a Shark-tails funeral. Feed on the dead to sustain the living.

Joel would live for his revenge.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More mermaids! in true me fashion, a sentence here and there for a bit then one day BAM saw a mermaid au picture (not for this, an different mermaid au but ill put a link below) and whoop did four pages so enjoy!

Jeremy slept fitfully while Ryan stayed up, watching his mate thrash in his slumber. Ryan crooned, stroking Jeremy's hair frond gently and the fishtail settled, soothed subconsciously by his presence. Ryan felt a warmth and love for his mate burn brighter, welling up into his throat, making it harder to take in water for his gills. 

Perhaps Meg was right. It was time to have a talk with Jeremy on what to expect. Jeremy was so much more swollen than the Sharktails were when they were carrying. And he should have felt some movement by now, some sign that the pup was close to hatching. Ryan splayed a webbed hand over Jeremy's abdomen, feeling for himself the slight bulbous pressure of eggs just under the skin.

Ryan had wanted to talk after Meg had left but Jeremy was so worn out by her brief visit he’d started slurring words as Ryan pressed him into the sleeping nook. Ryan could tell morning was approaching, the water growing warmer to his senses. A brief look outside confirmed it, and he was back just as Jeremy started to stir.

Ryan was strictly a carnivore, but it was a blessing his mate was not. He hadn’t a chance to hunt last night but still, breakfast was ample for the fishtail, a selection of ocean plant life with a side of molluscs. Jeremy stretched as Ryan brought over a platter of food on a smooth large stone.

“Breakfast in nook?” Jeremy grinned, staying in his comfortable space, letting Ryan put the rock on his swollen stomach to balance, “Maybe your friend should come over more often?”

Ryan chuckled and drifted closer, “Maybe she will.” He reminded Jeremy gently, “She was going to bring her pod over today remember?” 

Jeremy's breakfast tipped but Ryan caught it, putting a hand over the food so it didn’t float away. Jeremy wriggled out of his nook, anxiously looking out the doorway, “The frenzy? Here?”

“No, she said pod, remember her correcting us?” Ryan soothed as best he could, “Her mate is a Fishtail.”

Privately he added to himself that just because one was a fishtail, did not mean all were. He wasn’t as subtle as he thought because Jeremy's mind was also turning over the possibilities. He looked back at Ryan, “You know, what kinda Tailed Merfolk use the word ‘pod’?”

Ryan paused in his tidying and met Jeremy's musing look with one of his own, shrugging a shoulder, “Actually… I don’t know…” and it wasn’t important to him, bringing the breakfast over and making sue Jeremy ate as the pregnant fish kept a lookout. Thankfully it was after the last mollusce was slurped from its shell that they heard the thunderous call of whale song. 

Jeremy brightened immediately, darting out of their home, “Whales! Come on Rye! I didn’t know they migrated this way.” he gushed. Jeremy loved the whale migrations. He used to drift with his siblings on the reef when he was small, watching the giants of the sea swim by in their majestic beauty.

“Jeremy!” Ryan dropped the stone plate and swum after his partner. He didn’t want Jeremy leaving his side let alone the cave, anything could happen and anything did happen. Jeremy had stopped, floating in place in the cavern mouth, his own wide open and his eyes popping at the procession that was coming towards them.

Two Large Merfolk were coming towards them, a feminine and masculine shape, the masculine with beard fronds coming from his chin. They were similar in their red fronds, their facial structures, clearly related. But the fact they were twins was not what had Jeremy, than Ryan after the shark took Jeremy's shoulders and pulled him to his chest, gaping.

They were HUGE, black whale skin with a white underbelly and black faces with white circles over their cheeks. Twelve foot long and well proportioned to that size, they were the biggest merfolk either of them had seen. As they watched, the bearded one opened his mouth and let out a large croon of whale song, the female answering, shaking her curly hair fronds back from her face as she did.

“Ryan…” Jeremy gasped and Ryan nodded, holding him in a protective embrace.

“I know Jeremy… I know…” they were fantastic, majestic, beautiful. They had also distracted from the fact that Meg, in all her eight foot glory, had seemed dwarfed by them. Swimming under her belly was a fishtail, slightly smaller than the shark, but long and slender with bright colours.

“Meg!” Ryan called, finally noticing her and waving. Meg put on speed to get to them as Jeremy went tight in Ryan's arms. Above the Bearded Orca Tail, a shark had just detached and was following Meg towards them. His hide was almost a dull green, his yellow underbelly blending with the dapple of light through the water but what identified him was the lighter stripes down his body, faded with age but still noticeable.

“Tiger shark!” Jeremy shrieked shrilly, baring his smaller fangs and turning into Ryan, trying to push back behind him but Ryan held him in front.

“Shh, it’s ok, look, Meg wouldn’t bring someone dangerous.” Ryan told him, stroking his hair frond from his face and looking at the intruder again, watching him carefully ready to attack if it turned out this shark was not friendly.

“Hey, no, This is Geoff. Geoff is a friend.” Meg said as she got close enough to hear what they were saying and anyone could see Jeremy's distress, recognise the scars on his back when he twisted in his mates grip, “Geoff is mated to the twins.”

Geoff himself pulled up short, the long haired orca taking a hand in hers and eyeing Ryan back with just as much scrutiny as he’d given the shark. The Bearded orca swam closer, Jeremy and Ryan both retreating slightly as such a massive Mer came closer.

“Jack and Jackie are co-mates of Geoff.” Meg expanded, gesturing to the appropriate orca, “And this, is my mate. Gavin.” 

She presented him with a flourish, Gavin coming upright near the two to smile and greet them, his hands up, palms facing them, “Hello, nice to meet you.” He had an accent that gave him away as a foreign fish if his very appearance didn’t already do so.

Jeremy’s mouth dropped again, looking over Gavin in amazement. It was like someone had taken the top half of an above worlder and attached it to the tail of a Mer. He was unique, unlike anything Jeremy had ever seen. Even his hair fronds were finer and more numerous as well as short, haloing around his head. Gavin seemed to understand, wiggling his fingers, “My part of the reef, you take my hands in greeting to show you don’t have any weapons and come in peace.”

Jeremy took his hands and gave a wary smile, “Sorry. Just-”

“We make quite the sight don’t we? We get this reaction everywhere we go”Gavin giggled, squeezing his hands lightly before letting them go to pet Jeremy's rounded stomach, “So whens the big day? You look fit to pop!”

Jeremy put his hands over his stomach and gave Ryan a worried look before he looked back to the strange foreign mermaid, “Well ah… We’re not sure… I should have lain by now…” he trailed off as he spotted Meg shoot his mate an angry look and Gavin's smile turned sympathetic.

“I told you Rye. Talk to him.” Meg said sternly, Jeremy turning fully to look at his mate. Ryan looked, scared. There was no other word for it. Scared and guilty and looking at Jeremy like he had a trident at Ryan's throat.

Ryan swallowed hard as he looked at his mate, “I’m so sorry Jeremy…”

\---

Jeremy could hear them all out there, but he didn’t care. He curled on himself, hidden in their sleeping nook. The nook he shared with a monster. A monster that had impregnated him with other monsters. He should have stayed home, should have conformed. 

This was meant to be a redo. Another clutch, one he bore himself, one he could keep safe with a strong mate. Instead he had learnt he wasn't having a clutch at all. He was having Pups. A pup. A singular monster pup that would hatch inside him and eat the rest of its siblings before they could hatch themselves.

Just as Sharktails ate Fishtails.

Jeremy could feel himself trembling and a pain was sharp through his stomach. He couldn’t believe he’d let himself be tricked like this. He should have left Ryan to drown when they first met. If he had, he wouldn’t have to feel his children die inside him.

His mother, his siblings, his clutch. All eaten by sharktails. No wonder his father had looked upon him with such disgust. Jeremy was a traitor to the tail he bore. They flocked outside the cave in the larger cavern, talking about him now. Tell him, Meg had said, and Ryan had.

Too late.

“He’s ah, not taking this well is he huh?” Gavin said stabbing a thumb over his shoulder at where Jeremy had fled. Ryan was hugging himself, his entire body leaning that way, yearning for his mate but a large hand on his shoulder stopped him from drifting to far from them. Jack looked at his sister first who shrugged lightly before he answered Gavin.

“He was used to the idea he’d have over a dozen young to love. To find out it will only be one.. He must be mourning the others.” Jack crooned softly, sympathy for the hidden fishtail. Ryan shook his head almost violently in response.

“No. He hates me. You don’t understand. This would have been Jeremy's second clutch. His first had been lain but was eaten by my frenzy.”

“Oh poor dear.” Jackie sighed, taking Geoff's hand in hers for comfort, “You really screwed the net here Ryan if you don’t mind me saying so.”

“I do mind you saying so!” Ryan snapped, shooting Jackie a glare before he looked back trying to catch a glimpse of the one he adored, “I realize I fucked it ok? I get that. He can hate me if that's what he wants, but all I care about is helping him through this.”

“Well dude, you might try actually fucking talking to him.”

“Geoff!”

“What? It’s not gonna get solved with him sulking out here!” Geoff defended himself from Jacks stern look, “We came to meet Megs old buddy and find a clueless pregnant fishtail. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that the one who made him that way go in there and try to fucking help?”

“He can’t. He’s not Jeremy's mate.” Meg pointed out and ironically it was the tiny fishtail that dove in front of her, going face to face with Ryan that saved her from the sharktails wrath. Gavin bared his small fangs and put up a hand to Ryan's chest.

“Don’t go snarling at my mate.” he said trying to keep the fear from his voice, “We both took the bloody mating mark. But you, you forced it on him didn’t ya? Cause I don’t see no answering mark on your neck.”

Ryan hated how right he was, jerking his chin down to break eye contact with Gavin before he killed him in a rage. His tail slashed agitatedly, moving up slightly in the water, “I never meant to.” he spat out, “I knew I was too weak to resist the mating urge too many seasons in a row. I was trying to swim away from him but he was there. In shark water. And he called to me…”

“Look, everyone just lay off the guy for a minute huh?’ Jack said wisely, raising his hands to calm the group, “What’s important is keeping that Fishtail in there calm. Now. Meg and Gavin. Why don’t you fetch Lindsay? She and Michael had their pup, maybe she can give Jeremy some tips on-”

“Ahhhh!!!” Jeremy's scream of pain barely registered with anyone else before Ryan was already gone. He rushed inside, finding Jeremy curled tight in on himself, his stomach grotesquely shifting under his hands, independent from him. One of the eggs had hatched.

“Jeremy! Jeremy be calm! Your scaring our pup!” Ryan tried to soothe him but it was apparently the wrong thing to say. Jeremy reached out and grabbed him by the wrist, yanking him across to the nook so Jeremy could scream in his face.

“IT HURTS!” He bellowed, letting Ryan go to hold his stomach again as inside him, a shark pup had unfolded from its egg and was shifting, trying to get away from the fear pumping all around it. Eggs were still full around the pup giving it limited room, and Jeremy's body was not build to bear live young inside himself.

"Shhh! Calm dow-”

“DON’T YOU FUCKING TELL ME TO BE CALM RYAN I’LL FUCKING BITE YOUR FUCKING NOSE OFF!!” Jeremy screamed in rage and pain, throwing his head back too yell again as another egg, stirred by the commotion, opened and a second pup unfolded.

“Sing!” Gavin hissed from the doorway where the pod was crammed, massive heads all trying to see in. Ryan looked at the man in panic and confusion, as Gavin motioned with a hand impatiently, “Bloody sing damn you! Michael had to sing to calm violet down.”

“There's two Gavin! I don’t think singing is gonna work till there's only one!” Ryan's clicks are high with stress but that's nothing compared to Jeremy. Bad enough the pup would eat eggs, but two whole healthy pups eating  _ Each other?!  _

No way, not going to happen. Not on Jeremy's watch. He grabbed Ryan by the ear frill, making the sharktail actually yelp with pain as his head was pulled down against the writhing stomach of his mate. Jeremy's bared his fierce teeth at Ryan's panicked face, “You heard him!” he hissed than demanded, “SING!”

“But-”

“ **SING FUCKER!** ”   
  
“ Oh, won't you come with me? Where the moon is made of gold,” Ryan sung the first thing that came to mind, the song his mother sung to him. From the first few croons, the two pups begun to settle, soothed by the calm of the voice, “And in the morning sun, we'll be swimming. Oh, won't you come with me? Where the ocean meets the sky, and as the clouds roll by, we'll sing the song of the sea…”

As the pups settled, so did Jeremy, Ryan's voice calming Mate and Children. The pain also settled as the pups stopped fighting his body, replaced by a strange relieving feeling as the pups started to gently feed. With each egg they ate, there was more room and lessened the strain on Jeremy.

Ryan kept singing as Jeremy instinctively started to pet his hand through Ryan's Hair fronds. Ryan's eyes closed and he tried to forget for a moment that his mate hated him. He could feel his pups against his cheek through his mates skin, and his singing was giving his family what they needed. For this moment, he could pretend he was a good provider, a good mate.

The Jacks drew the rest of the pod away, giving the new family a moment alone. They had lots to prepare if they were to move Ryan and Jeremy to their protected cove. They were undoubtedly part of their pod of outcasts, mates that defied society. And the first hybrid pups were on their way to be born.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://gamergirl4laif.tumblr.com/tagged/ah-mermaids  
> Dis is the inspiration to keep working on mine since this AU looked so damn pretty it reminded me to work on my own! Check them out its a less angsty more poly love mermaid au then this one plus Geoff is adorabley helpless lol


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the jumping around from scene to scene.  
> Enjoy!  
> WARNING: Misgendering in this chapter that will be corrected later in the plot but just a heads up

Ryan sung until his voice was hoarse. The pod had retreated to plan their move and to give them space to talk. Personally, Ryan didn’t want to talk. He dreaded Jeremy sending him away, being unable to hold his mate again. He clung tighter now, making the two sleeping pups within Jeremy's stomach to shift.

Ryan.” the time was here, his name said so firmly by the smaller fishtail. Ryan looked up at Jeremy's face, seeing the frown, the scales pulling down, his beautiful mate glaring at him, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I-I thought you knew.” 

“Bullshit.” Ryan flinched at Jeremy's harsh denial, closing his eyes and letting the accusing words hit his shoulders as he curled around his mates stomach, “I made no secret I was expecting a clutch. You however, only talked about what would it be like when they were with us. You kept pretty fucking quiet on the whole ‘live birth’ portion.”

Ryan couldn’t deny that. Since Jeremy spoke so much about caring for a clutch, Ryan had more than an inkling on what the fishtail expected. But Ryan's shoulder was bare, and he was reluctant to do anything that would drive Jeremy away from him. Now all he could do was throw himself on Jeremy's mercy.

“I-I suspected…” Ryan expelled water from his gills either side, reigning in the urge to lie, “I knew. I knew when you spoke about how much young would keep us company in our ship. I was just afraid…”

“Afraid of _what_?” Jeremy asked bitterly, the only thing stopping him from shoving Ryan away from himself was that his touch kept the pups calm. It seemed beyond stupid to him for Ryan to be afraid of anything. He was the apex predator of these waters. Nothing hunted him. What scared the scariest monster-

“I was afraid of losing you…” Ryan admitted lowly, robbing Jeremy of his anger at the sheer misery in Ryan's voice, “You, who gave up everything because of me. You who lost everything because of my kind. You, my sweet, fun, kind, strong mate… You are everything. You give me everything. And you’d take all of me with you if you left me.”

Ryan's webbed hand stroked over Jeremy's skin, “As if you weren’t enough, as if that were possible, you went and gave me Pups of my very own. I never thought I’d get to be a father. But here we are, about to become parents. And I just want to share that with you.”

Jeremy's smaller webbed fingers fell on Ryan's hand, Ryan looking up once more to see Jeremy smiling at him again, “Ryan… You’re a bastard you know that? How can I stay mad when you talk so fucking sweetly?”

“You’re not angry at me?’ Ryan asked hopefully, heart dropping when Jeremy's face turned bitter.

“Angry? I’m **furious** at you.” Jeremy growled, than altered his tone to a softer one, cupping Ryan's chin, not letting him look away, “But I  _love_ you… And I’ll be damned if I’m raising twins by myself.”

“What are we? Stinking ambergris?!” Geoff called from where they were all eavesdropping. Jack hit him on the head as Jeremy burst into laughter and Ryan gave a nervous chuckle, taking Jeremy's hands in his, helping him float up to the middle of their living space.

“You sure?” Ryan checked as inside he was screaming at himself to shut up, “You really want to keep me?”

“I do.” Jeremy nodded, then pulled a hand free to shake a finger, “But no more keeping shit from me. If it’s your season, you give me the heads up, and if you got anymore information on our kids, tell me now.”

Ryan didn’t want to spoil Jeremy's forgiving mood, but he looked down then back up as he delivered the news, “We won’t have twins Jeremy… One will eat the other eventually.”

Jeremy's face grew stubborn, and he had that same wild look in his eye he had when he was a simple fishtail and he’d befriended a massive shark to take home, “Oh yes we will have twins. You just wait. These two are not going to eat each other.” keeping a hold of Ryan's hand, he pressed another over the sleeping pups within his stomach, “I guarantee it…”

\---

It was difficult getting the rotund merman ready to go. Jeremy was loathe to leave where he had nested, clinging to his home. Ryan made things more difficult by bullying anyone who tried to force Jeremy to move physically, yet he was too scared to do anything but gently nudge Jeremy towards the exit.

Finally Geoff had enough and he grabbed Gavin’s pouch on his hip, fumbling in the wrapped bag and pulling out a shiny aboveworlder item. He waved it at Jeremy, seeing the Fishtails eyes lock onto it, “See this? It’s what the above worlders call, a Key chain. There’s plenty of above world stuff where we live.”

Jeremy narrowed his eyes suspiciously, “There is?”

“Plenty.” Gavin snatched his treasure back, “Enough for you to get your own.”

“But…” he looked to Ryan and whined, “Our pups… will they be safe? No, no… Better to just stay here where we know the area…” he tried to retreat to their little nook again, but Ryan put an arm around his waist and gently pulled him back to the entrance.

“Our pups WILL be safe.” Ryan swore, pressing Jeremy's hand over his heart, “I will keep them safe wherever we go. I promise you. I will not let anything happen to them.”

Jeremy softened, smiling lovingly at his large sharktail partner, his fears momentarily quelled. They decided that Jeremy should ride on Jack's back, holding onto his dorsal. Ryan swum just above him, occasionally his belly brushing Jeremy's back fin and Jackie above them all, enclosing Jeremy in the safest position. 

As they swam, Geoff, lazily swimming in the wake of Jackie, letting her momentum do most the work, explained their pod to the newcomers.

“Jack and Jackie found me. Well, their pod did. They were kind for a bunch of Killer whales.”

“Orca’s” Jackie corrected tiredly, like they’d had this conversation many times before. Geoff waved off her concerns and twisted in the water, lowering down so he was swimming beside Ryan. Jeremy giggled, he liked the tiger shark, and now they got a closer look, he could see Geoff’s frenzy must have practised marking.

Geoffs arms, back, shoulders and tail were all marked with various designs. Jeremy had his identifying banding on his upper arm, thick blue for male pronouns. He also had added a few personalising touches, designs that were personal for him representing his family and now, Ryan as well. 

“Whatever.” Geoff snorted at his long haired mate, continuing his monologue, “As I was sayin. They didn’t even eat me when they followed the blood scent to me. Just patched me up real nice, gave me a feed and sent me on my way.”

“Why were you injured?” Jeremy asked curiously. Ryan didn’t have to ask. He saw under Geoff’s markings, he had the same kind of scars as Ryan himself. Unlike Ryan, it didn’t seem like Geoff had stayed and taken more punishment. Ryan had Geoff beat in the scar department.

“Oh misunderstandings,” Geoff brushed him off as easily as he had Jackie, “The point is, they could have eaten me but they didn’t. I didn’t realise till later its cause these two idiots begged them not too. Apparently,” he shot them an affectionate but frustrated look, “I looked cute unconscious…”

“You did.” Jackie smiled down at him, Jeremy grinning at the love he could see between shark and whale, “You looked like dinner and what's more attractive than that?”

“True that.” Ryan added, Meg adding her own “oh yeah!” from underneath Jack where she was schooling with Gavin. 

“Ryan!” Jeremy said shocked, breaking into laughter at Ryan's guilty look. The whole pod started laughing and Jeremy felt the warmth of belonging. All his movement however woke up the pups. He could feel them shifting, tails testing, arms pressing and he hissed in discomfort.

Jack slowed to a drift and Ryan closed the distance between them, putting a hand around Jacks dorsal himself, and wrapping the other around Jeremy so his hand was splayed against the pups. Jeremy put his own hands over Ryan's, knowing his mate wouldn’t let him drift off Jack’s back and Jeremy put his head against Ryan's chest.

Ryan started humming, than broke into song, singing his lullaby again to try and calm the pups. This time however, as Jack steadily increased his pace once more, the twins burst into Whale song in accompaniment. Jeremy gasped to hear it, their sweet melody twisting around Ryan's words was beautiful enough to move him to hitched breath.

The whole sea however was not as beautiful. Jeremy had drifted into a doze, listening to the music, feeling his kids shift underneath his skin. He was rudely awakened when they crossed a territory that a pair of Mantis shrimp merman were fighting over.

“FUCK OFF!” one screamed at the other, waving his fighting appendage in the water. His torso melted into a long multi legged hard blue crustacean body, and his eyes were stalks out of his head, his mandibles opening to scream at his neighbour again, “I SAID FUCK OFF MATE!”

“I AIN’T YOUR MATE, FRIEND! YOU FUCK OFF!” A rival bellowed, back, his appendages tucked in against his yellow body but his arm extended out from his torso to flip his neighbour off, “HOW YOU LIKE THAT FRIEND?!”

“YOU AIN’T ME FRIEND, PAL! FUCK OFF I SAID!” The first puffed up and took a few punches with his appendages that sprung out from his torso, his arms fisted against his waist, “WANT SOME OF THIS?!”

“I DON’T WANT ANY OF THAT-” the yellow paused, his eyes finding the pod before his head twisted to look. Jeremy was leant over Jack’s side, watching curiously, while Meg herded Gavin upward to be further tucked into the middle of the moving pod. Ryan was more watching Jeremy's face, the little Fishtail had hardly swum further than a day from his community before Ryan had moved into his life.

Jeremy had a delighted grin on his face, watching the fascinating merman looking back up at him. He seemed to find it entertaining as they both swelled in fury, screaming at them in tandem.

“THE FUCK YOU LOT LOOKING AT?”

“FUCK OFF EY? THIS AIN’T A SHOW”

“YOU TELL EM MATE! FUCK OFF HE SAID!”

“I KNOW WHAT I SAID! I TOLD THEM TO FUCK OFF I DID!”

“HOW BOUT YOU FUCK OFF THAN EY? THIS IS MY PLACE PAL!”

“I AIN’T YOUR PAL! YOU FUCK OFF FRIEND!”

Normally, Ryan would have defended Jeremy, tearing apart those who spoke so rudely to his mate. But since Jeremy was sniggering away and exchanging amused looks with his fellow Fishtail Gavin, Ryan let it slide. Besides, those merman were barely three feet long. Hardly threatening at all.

“Mantis-tail.” Jack crooned, yawning and stretching his jaw as his sister took over, “They love to threaten, but as long as you don’t get within punching distance, you’ll be fine.”

“Are they dangerous to kids?” Jeremy asked next, shifting back into Ryan once more. The pups had settled but Ryan had stayed on Jack's back with the whales blessing. It was odd for Ryan to have a merman be bigger than him, but he got over it quick to have his mate so snuggly against him once more.

“No. We left Michael and Lindsay at the cove. They have a young one, whelped last season. She’s a handful, but she’s not gotten hurt by a shrimp yet.” Jack chuckled, the sensation of rumbling underneath their bodies, “Kid could do with a little lesson in sticking her nose in less places.”

Jackie started to croon and call again, singing in the briny deep. Jack started to join her, both singing together in melody. Jeremy listened, mesmerised, for long minutes. He saw Geoff and Meg swimming together talking quietly and Ryan was humming, his eyes closed as he relaxed. 

Jeremy decided to do the same, closing his eyes and relaxing into a soothing sleep.

\--

Ryan frowned at his reflection, turning back and forth in the water, inspecting himself. They had settled in quick and Ryan had to investigate this odd reflective shale. Rarely did he a reflector large enough to see all of himself. So focused was he on spotting his imperfections, he didn't notice the displacement of water until Geoff was almost right beside him. The tiger-shark put up his hands to calm him when Ryan's slashed back in the water, claws out and teeth bared before he recognised his friend.

"Easy buddy." Geoff smiled and showed his empty hands before letting them go loose, "No ones here to harm you." Geoff tipped his head at the shale, smile not dropping as he spoke, "Checking yourself out?"

Ryan sighed, gushing water from his gills and turning front on to the shale once more, "In a way…" He rubbed his shoulder where his mating mark  _ should _ be but was conspicuously absent. Geoff was patient and after a long moment Ryan spoke, "He loves me, I know that but… I'm afraid he'll get afraid if I ask him to mark me. It's not a fishtail thing you know and I've already fucked his life enough right?" He sighed again, long and low, dropping slightly in the water as he slumped his shoulders, "Just wondering what he see's in me."

Geoff looked at him, then at his own reflection, drifting forward to put his hand on the cool shale surface, "You know, when I first found this reflection rock, I thought it was pretty damn accurate. That was until Jackie joined me here and I realised it turned her white to grey. It doesn't really show us the full, clear picture. It can only show us it's own interpretation of us…"

Ryan's eyes furrowed and he shook himself lightly, gesturing with a webbed hand, "The fuck is that meant to mean?"

Geoff took his hand from the shale and transferred it to Ryan's shoulder, "It means. You're a fucking moron to be here staring at yourself and not over there with your mate, talking with him." Some mer needed it put straight and it seemed Ryan was one of those mer's. Ryan's face gave a rueful smile and he turned it on Geoff.

"Thanks. I-I needed to hear that." he said honestly, then started to move as Geoff's hand fell. He only straightened out before he twisted to look back at Geoff, "You know… that's the oddest bit of reef I've ever seen."

Geoff looked at it then back at Ryan, "But it's pretty damn useful so why question a good thing?"

Ryan smiled wider, all his teeth showing as he got the message, swimming off to join his mate who was learning all about Shark birth from Lindsay. Geoff watched him go, waiting until he was alone near the shale to look at it, closing in once again. He pressed both hands to it then pushed himself back. As he did he closed one fist and pressed it into he palm of the other, shaking it twice before rolling to swim towards his Pod.

\--

"Burnie! Burns! Doctor Burns! BURNIE!" Jon's shouts could be heard long before the lab assistant all but broke in Burnie's office door. The lead manager of the Ocean Mer Research and viewing facility let out a big sigh, looking into the massive aquarium that took up one whole wall of his office before turning to Jon.

"Yeah? What's up?" He asked tiredly. No matter how many times he told Jon, still the assistant and lab photographer burst in without knocking.

"They're back! The pod!" Jon panted pointing back down the hall he'd come from. Part of the ongoing research being done here was of the wild pod of mismatched merfolk who had settled nearby. A fascinating study on the socialisation between merfolk, who usually stick to their own breeds, living together as a Pod.

It was no big news to Burnie however that they had returned from whatever trip they'd taken together, "Yeah, not surprised. They left the shark unit behind on this trip. It was probably just a foray for-"

"New members?" Jon cut into the building of a lecture. Burnie's eyebrows raised at that; Indeed, that was news. Jon grinned and nodded emphatically, pointing again, "Oh yeah. New members Burns and you **have** to have a look what they brought home. _Trust_ me."

OK, Burnie had to admit he was interested now, but he had paper work to do and a conversation to finish. With that in mind he glanced at the tank before looking back at Jon, "Take some photo's and note anything of interest. I should be free in about an hour."

Jon shook his head, taking two steps towards Burnie, waving his arms in a no gesture. Burnie felt a twinge of annoyance at Jon's disobedience. Sure they were casual here on formalities but he was still the boss.

"You are _going_ to _want_ to see this." Jon repeated slow and serious, dropping his hands and looking wide-eyed at his boss, "Burnie… they brought back a guppy or betta tail. Hard to tell for me, you're the expert but, they also brought back a great white Shark-tailed merman."

The conversation and paperwork would have to wait. 

Burnie stood up, a gasp in his voice, "Show me…"

As they walked towards the viewing room, Jon got Burnie up to date on what he had seen, "The Long fronded Orca Male breached which got my attention. Obviously I ran down here to see them enter the cove and that's when I saw them. The Fish was on the short fronded orca's back and get this. She's pregnant."

Burnie hurried his step, anxious to see what they had brought back to the centre, "How far till laying do you know?" without testing they couldn't be sure, but as observers and researchers of merlife, they could guess an estimate from the round look of the mer in question.

Jon grinned, a little hop to his step, "Oh Burnie, your going to want to bring her in I think when you see her." 

Burnie frowned in confusion, raising a brow, "What? Why?" they tried to avoid captivity unless necessary for survival of the specimen, "Is she hurt? Sick?"

They entered the viewing room, a dark space with a floor to ceiling trick window was set. From here they could see the majority of the rounded cove walls that housed the various merfolk that lived in the protected bay area. Lights were not allowed within, as on the other side in the water, this viewing window looked to be a reflective piece of polished shale.

Through it, Burnie could see the new comers being introduced to the Shark unit. A male and female of the same shark-tailed breed and their young daughter. Jon had fallen quiet because Burnie could now see what he had and was enraptured. The scientist walked forward with hands out until his palms pressed to cool glass, eyes behind glasses locked onto the monumental sight before him.

The orange and purple female was clearly pregnant and past a laying size. The movement her stomach was making showed she was bearing  _ live young _ ! Something unheard of with her species. An egg-laying hermaphroditic Coral fish should not have been fertilised with live young.

The reason for her unusual state was clear by the protective and comforting stance the Great White Shark took with her body. He was a massive specimen, judging from the marking on him, had survived quiet a few fights. His arms were around the Fishtail, and his eyes scanned for threats, subtly shifting so she floated in the shadow of his body. Scars on the female showed a shark attack, and by the Great's behaviour two things were obvious.

He had not attacked this fishtail. He had definitely impregnated her.

"Cross species fertilisation within the wild." Burnie breathed hard, unable to mask his excitement. Many experiments had been attempted but the whole of the scientific community had so far been unsuccessful to have two captive subjects mate. Theoretically it was possible, since with the help of labs, they could fertilise an egg then implant within a subject, but this was the first human seen case of it happening in the wild. 

Jon grinned at his bosses joy, "I'll go get my camera."

"And get Gus." Burnie added before the thought sunk in, quickly turning and grabbing Jon's sleeve, "Don't tell him why I need him here. Just get him. And not a word to anyone else just yet. I want this well documented." he broke into a massive smile, eyes alight in excitement, "Jon, we are going into the history books for this if we handle it just right!"

He let his assistant go then looked back out into the cove. The newest shark and his mate were being shown an area they could make their home by the Female fishtail that was mated to the female great white. 

Burnie watched them for a long time…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the humans mean no offence by misgendering because there is a lot they don't understand about mer culture. they think mers are smart like apes but not actually sentient. Don't worry plot wise they'll learn better but atm they identified on binary genitals. If they lay eggs or get pregnant they get tagged as female. if they impregnate or fertilise they tag male male. In the human veiw, again they are dumb and will learn the truth and better later.  
> Cause of course, their is no boobies in the ocean...  
> Shame that, cause boobies are fun 0.0 but yeah no need in the ocean


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More misgendering, again, it will be solved later in the plot. Sorry you gotta hear it now guys :( I'm moving as fast as i can to get to a plot point where they can be corrected

Jeremy’s favourite spot was a little furrow he’d made in the silt within the protected bay. There he could watch his new pod and they could join him for a chat as they went about their days.

The twins sat heavy, all the extra eggs devoured. Jeremy liked to stroke his belly and imagine them cuddled together inside him. Safe. Loved.

As he was lost in thought he watched another plume of sand come out of the burrow that they were going to live in. Ryan came out soon after, spluttering and ejecting sand from his gills, trying to clean himself with a shake. Jeremy giggles at the sight and Ryan heard his chirping and smiled at him.

Jeremy smiled back and waved, a warmth inside him at the sight of his mate. He refilled his hands and shifted to a more comfortable position in the soft silt. Ryan had turned away to talk with Meg and Gavin who were helping him make their own space, the fishtail teaching the two uselessly huge great whites how to burrow.

Sharks didn’t burrow, instead moving in to reef's already settled, but Jeremy was touched that Ryan was trying. Ryan lived to make him happy and it was hard too fight that kinda devotion. Especially when he didn’t want too.

But that thought led to the next. About how as much as he loved Ryan and Ryan loved him, that the shark tail was the source of Jeremy’s pain. Time and time again, Ryan loving Jeremy has lead to pain of some kind. 

His sad expression had attracted the only shark Jeremy found less threatening than Ryan. Violet, Michael and Lindsay's pup, swum over head before turning herself to float in front of Jeremy, “Mr bright scales! Why are you sad?” She asked twisting to float upside down, a calming position for her, her eyes getting droopy.

Jeremy gave her a fond smile, “You can call me Jeremy you know.”

She rolled back to her belly in the water flashing him a shark toothed grin, “But you're so BRIGHT! I’ve never seen so many colours before!”

Jeremy snorted, the silt puffing up with the jettison of displaces water, “I’m only different shades of two colours…”

“Pretty colours!” She interjected making Jeremy laugh hard enough the pups started to shift inside him. He rubbed hands over his belly to calm them, pleased with how they didn’t seem to want to hurt each other.

“Violet! Violet are you bugging him?” Lindsay asked as she sped over, ever aware of her daughters general direction. Jeremy smiled as she approached, a much smaller breed then the great white and so friendly he couldn’t help being charmed.

“No she’s not bugging me.” He answered as Violet did.

“He’s sad mum.” She said knowingly. Jeremy shook his head in denial but Lindsay gave him a piercing look. She shooed her daughter to help her father at the new domicile building.

Now alone, Lindsay settled on the silt on her belly, propping her head with her fists, “Talk to me?”

An unbiased ear would be appreciated so Jeremy gave a big gulp then started talking, “I love Ryan, I do but… we’re so different. I don’t know how to talk to him let alone handle him. This…” and he stroked over his baby bump, “escalated faster then I expected or…” he trailed off guiltily and Lindsay finished the thought for him.

“Or wanted. Right?”

Jeremy nodded miserably, then was quick too defend himself, “I do love him! And we get along great! But… I didn’t plan this you know? Everything’s so different so quickly and now I gotta give birth? Like how does that even work?! I lay! Plus I can never go home and sure I wanted more freedom but I didn’t want to be exiled! I wonder if my dad would hate these pups on sight and it _hurts_  Linds, and I can’t tell him cause then it will hurt him too.”

Lindsay let him talk and then drifted forward, propelling with her hands on the floor so she could lay a webbed hand over Jeremy’s, “maybe it’s something he should hear? We sharks are… impulsive. But that doesn’t mean we’re excused from consequence.” Jeremy’s eyes furrowed sadly and he looked away only for Lindsay to shift her head to be in his view with a lip smile, no teeth, “as for live birth, ask me anything and I’ll tell you whatever you need.”

A little less scared now armed with knowledge, Jeremy smiled when a little while later Ryan drifted over. Lindsay made her goodbyes and left them alone to talk. Ryan came down to twist around Jeremy, arms coming around over his hands to cup his belly. He nuzzled Jeremy's neck fondly as he spoke in his ear, "How are you feeling?"

"Fat." Jeremy pouted then laughed, "but healthy. Lindsay told me I'll probably whelp in a week or two." He turned his head to nuzzle Ryan's cheek, feeling the scrap of sharkskin against his cheek but not minding, "Mind if we go for a swim?"

"I'd love to." Ryan smiled at him, taking the hand Jeremy offered him and helping him back to buoyancy. The inside of the cove was a circle with one entrance and exit, that had the Orca's and their mate living right in it so none could pass without their knowledge. The rest of the pod lived around the cove walls, and Jeremy was heading out towards the exit.

"Jeremy?" Ryan asked carefully, fearful of his mate going out into open water with their track record. Jeremy just swum on, hushing him and waving at Jack as they past the larger male. Ryan swallowed his fear and followed, eyes peeled for danger. 

Jeremy swum them out and then around the island that formed their cove. Reef was familiar to him and he smiled to see the fish school. But moments later, the reef was emptying as the fish fled the shape of Ryan, Jeremy looking over his shoulder at the shark tail who was looking around intently. 

Ryan almost bumped into Jeremy when he stopped, the smaller Mer turning to face him, taking both his hands. Ryan felt a chill down his tail and a sink to his heart when Jeremy squeezed his hands, sensing something coming he'd rather not hear.

"Ryan…" Jeremy begun in a firm tone.

"Please don't leave me." The words were blurted out before Ryan could stop them but it opened the floodgates, Ryan pulling on Jeremy's hands to bring him into a hug that was more a grapple then comfort, "Oh please don't go. I love you, I want to be here for you and our pups, Jeremy please I'll do better I promise I'll-"

"Ryan!" Jeremy hugged him back, nuzzling and nipping his jaw to soothe, "I'm not leaving you calm down." Slowly the shark tail relaxed, the hug becoming more genuine and Ryan pressing his mouth to the mark he'd left on Jeremy's skin, feeling the scar with his tongue.

As Jeremy pet his hair fronds down he spoke again softly, "I'm not leaving you. You're the most fascinating Mer I've ever met. Including our new Pod. But-" Ryan raised his head at that word, looking searchingly at Jeremy's expression, "I did want to talk to you privately because I know now Geoff told me, that you've been waiting for some kinda sign that I was ready to mark you as my mate."

Ryan broke into a beam, his smile lighting up his dark features with joy, "You want to mark me as your mate? Yes!" He shifted back so he could circle Jeremy in joy, coming back around him to the front and seizing both his hands again, "Oh you won't regret this, I swear! My beautiful mate, I'll…" he finally took a good look at the sad face Jeremy was giving him, the Fishtails eyes filled with sympathy.

"I'm not going to mark you." Jeremy said softly, charging through with his thoughts as he watched Ryan's face crumple and his heart break, "Because that's my choice. And I didn't really get much of one when you did this." he pulled a hand free to gesture at both his throat and his swollen stomach, "So, I'm making a choice now. The one I wanted to make months ago when we first met. I want to pursue you Ryan and I want you to court me."

Ryan's heart was shattered but as Jeremy continued he understood his point of view. Despite loving him fiercely and devotedly, Ryan had claimed and not asked when he took Jeremy as his mate. He bowed his head in shame, but was listening intently, ready to agree to whatever Jeremy wanted. Jeremy deserved nothing less after the pains and trails he'd endured all because he took mercy on a predator.

"I want things to slow up, because it's all happening so fast. We are going to have these pups together and you're going to show me that you'll be a great mate and father to my family. You'll be open and honest with me, and I'll do the same ok?" Jeremy tilted his head, trying to find Ryan's eyes, "Hey? We're in this together Buddy. We might have got the order wrong, but at least now we are somewhere where they accept us. So… Are we cool?"

Ryan wouldn't look him in the face, "I will always love you, and protect you and our pups but… If you want me to do that from a distance…" he swallowed his pain and turned his head further, "I-I can do that."

"Is that what you want?" Jeremy asked, letting Ryan's hands go to drift back, "Am I not… enough?"

Ryan looked up in panic and tried to take Jeremy's hands again but the fishtail folded them, twisting away from him. Ryan turned around him as the fishtail spun, the two seemingly dancing around each other. After a moment Jeremy couldn't help but chuckle at the unintentional dancing they were doing, Ryan smiling to hear it.

"You are so enough." Ryan said, now Jeremy unfolding his hands and putting them on Ryan's shoulders as the shark took his waist, still swimming together, "I want you."

"Then prove it” Jeremy said slowing their turns until they were still, “court me, love me, wait for me…”

Ryan brought him close, “I’ll wait forever if in the end is you…”

—

Joel clicked happily at his son, the strong little pup swimming around his head, brushing his head against his dads before swimming to his other dad. Ray opened his arms, nuzzling his nose to his sons before letting the pup swim behind him and hold onto his shoulder as his parents embraced.

"Take care of Adam." Joel breathed in rays ear, their son named after their missing mate. Ray kissed his cheek and nodded, giving him a smile that was trying hard to look casual.

"We'll be fine. Tina is gonna hang with us." Ray shrugged and mock punched Joel's shoulder, "You look after you huh?"

Joel smiled, and gently brushed Rays jaw with the back of his knuckles, "Don't go all sobby now."

Ray rolled his eyes and shoved him, "You wish, Butterfish. Get going. I'm in charge of the frenzy while your gone so scoot so I can abuse my new power to the fullest."

"You're going to make the frenzy serve you?" Joel asked with a laugh to his clicks. Ray rolled his eyes again.

"Ok, One, its serve us." and he pet a hand through his sons fronds, "and two, it was your idea."

Joel laughed and turned away, joining the other Shark warriors schooling together above the ruins where the frenzy made their home. Great white sharks were loners but the mermaid versions lived in a society. With their leader joined, they made a turn and started swimming towards the ship where the Leaders mate had been found.

Joel's smile faded as he lead his warriors on, thinking on his mate's death and the one responsible.

"Remember! The outcast isn't to die until he's seen me rip his mate to pieces!" He reminded his warriors. They chorused back 'yes chief!' and Joel snarled into the water. It was only a short few hours to reach the reef where Ryan had picked up his disgusting weak mate and there they slowed. 

The puny excuse for warriors from the fishtails came up, flashing their colours to try to warn them off. Those who had spines extended them and tridents were pointed at them violently, "Back! Away beasts! No food for you this time!"

"Oh hush up SNACKS!" Joel roared, his hands curled into claws and his jaw extending further then needed to project his snarls and clicks, "I am after the outlaw shark tail and its useless little mate. Where did they go?"

"We banished them both!" One of the trident holders snarled back at him, their green and yellow colouring flashing dangerously and the spines on its dorsal gleaming, "Just as we banish you! They left towards the open waters! We don't care where they went after that!"

Joel looked that way, hoping for better directions then towards the ship Adam had… He swallowed hard as he made himself think the word, murdered. He clenched his claws into fists and looked back to the gathered fishtails, "You listen here. You are Prey, we are predator. One thing we agree on is that we shall _never_  be friends let alone mates. Is that true?"

Begrudgingly the fishtails nodded, their faces as hard and disgusted by the union between two of their own as much as joel was, "True. We didn't wish to fight the shark tail needlessly but if you wish to be our guests. This reef has cleaned our scales of Jeremy. He-He made his choices. Now he'll live with them."

"Oh no…" Joel chuckled darkly, gesturing with his hands for his frenzy to move on, keeping his eyes locked on the lead fishtail, "He won't be living much longer at all…"

—

“Science isn’t assumptions Michael,” Burnie signed furiously as he spoke the words the board of directors said to him, “ ‘science is evidence Michael.’ Can you believe that shit? I’m just asking for a chance to provide the evidence! But do they wanna part with their filthy money-“

“Burnie!” Jon burst in again, Burnie turning away from the Aquarium to look at him frustrated, “Ah, sorry but you said to get you if it looked like the new male was making moves on the-“

“Get the camera equipment and the glass bottom boat.” Burnie instructed quickly then looked back to the aquarium. He signed with a heavy heart, no longer speaking with his signs, “I'm sorry old friend. But I need more evidence than photos. I can't let us be shut down."

He turned his back so he couldn't see the reply, ignoring the faint clicks he could hear through the thick glass. As he shut the door, he heard a thud of a heavy body slamming into the glass. He bowed his head a moment, saddened that he had hurt his friend but started walking towards the viewing room.

Today the darkened room had Gus in it, tapping on his pad hard enough Burnie feared for the screen. Gus was looking up then down in a rapid repeated motion, recording everything he was witnessing carefully. Burnie looked out of the false window to see what had his friend so enraptured. 

The pregnant female had settled in her usual spot and the Female Blacktip Reef Sharktail has been grooming and clicking at the fishtail. Burnie found himself as enraptured, placing a hand against the glass, "She hasn't taken one little nibble?"

"None. If anything, she's treating the fishtail as part of the crew." Gus said fascinated. The odd collection of mertails really had no official grouping term so the scientists here at the centre had elected to call it a crew. Due to the odd assortment of individuals normally found in crews.

"Jon said the new shark was making moves on the pregnant female?"

"Oh yeah, Vagabond has been making eyes at her all day." Gus noted, using one of the nicknames they gave subjects to make things easier. Burnie snorted, the name chosen because of the loner like personality Vagabond has displayed so far.

"I got Jon getting the equipment together. Chad should be ok to take us into the bay and we can have a look from above, maybe lower some of the camera's and-" Burnie stopped himself with a sharp intake of breath as the female shark left as the large male approached. He greeted the female fondly, nuzzling and clicking. They embraced, lots of touching and clicking before the female fanned silt into the water, getting up from her resting. 

"Th-their moving!" Gus stuttered and then yelled out, "Hey! Easy!" Burnie grabbing his elbow and pulling him along, "Their heading out of the cove! We got to follow them!"

Burnie was as anxious as anyone had ever seen him, worried his prize was leaving. Chad started the boat up and Gus, Burnie and Jon crowded around the glass bottom, trying to see. As they pulled into the bay Jon shouted, "Stop! Chad! Reverse! They are going left out the way!"

Slow and carefully they followed, witnessing the two merpeople swim and chitter, not noticing way up above, the humans were watching. They seemed to be in some sort of fight, the shark looking cowed by the fish then the fish looking sad before they danced together, both brightening and embracing. It was amazing courting behaviour to watch.

"Still think the Shark isn't the father?" Burnie asked Gus smugly who shrugged, still taking notes as Jon recorded it all.

"Hybrids aren't sustainable man. That shark is going to eat the eggs when it lays."

"It'll be live birth, I bet you 200 bucks."

"Deal." Gus stuck out a hand for Burnie to shake which he did promptly, and as Gus took his hand back he tilted his head, seeing that look in Burnie's eyes that made him uncomfortable, "You want them don't you?"

Burnie nodded, eyes fixed on the pregnant female as it danced with her mate, the sharktail spinning with her through the water, showing off for her, "When she births, we will take pup, mother and father, tag them all and put them in a tank for observation as we release the male back into the water. I just need hard proof that it's a hybrid before I can get the funding to such a big catch."

"Well… I hope your right." Gus said looking down and privately thinking that the Sharktail was not going to take captivity very well. Great whites often died in captivity, thus why Burnie would send it back to the ocean after tagging. However as they watched the courtship, the shark darting down and back up offering the female shells and stones to admire, Gus didn't think the shark would take to kindly to being separated either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come over to tumblr and talk with me! I take prompts and love to discus the au's of both my stories and others!


	8. Chapter 8

The twins were shifting again, sending pain through Jeremy's dorsals. He groaned and twisted, but it did no good. He couldn't sleep and he shimmied out of his nook only for Ryan to grab his tail, blinking at him sleepily, "Where's you goings?" he slurred curiously.

"Twins are moving. I can't sleep." Jeremy murmured, petting Ryan's fronds as his partner let him go. Ryan sucked in a big mouthful of water then expelled it in a yawn. He rubbed an eye and pushed himself up onto his elbows, tail starting to wave to and fro though he held himself still.

"Want me to come with?" He asked, taking another big yawn. He'd been up for a solid 74 hours, double and triple checking their new home, finding out the securities in place and adding to their own. Now their door had anemones around it, that stung Ryan but he said it was worth it for Jeremy's safety and the fishtail was immune to them.

"No. I'm just going to get some fresh current." Jeremy assured him and smiled, "I swear, I won't leave the bay."

" 'K" Ryan's eyes fluttered shut and he easily drifted back to sleep. Jeremy smiled fondly before swimming out their doorway and into the bay itself. In the space he stretched, rubbing his back and doing a few rolls and spins to stretch the kinks out. The swimming was calming to the pups inside him and they soon settled back down.

Jeremy sighed, scared for a live birth, but now getting a bit impatient, "When are you going to come out and meet me huh?" he whispered softly to his belly, rubbing a hand over it. As he did, he noticed a flash of movement from one piece of coral to the next. 

His jaw locked and he went still, watching carefully, taking a deep swallow of water to sound an alarm if needed. Then he let it all back out again as the figure moved, revealing for a moment, the slender form of Gavin. Jeremy was relieved instantly, so glad it wasn't an intruder but now he was curious. 

Gavin was moving like one not wanting to be seen. In fact, it was only the fact Jeremy was a fishtail that he noticed Gavin at all. The fishtail was flitting from coral to coral, blending his colours with the reef, becoming still and floating within the anemones or seaweeds. He was making his slow way up towards the surface, following the curve of the bay inwards towards the beach.

Jeremy threw a guilty glance at his new home, only to start following Gavin at a distance. After all, he had promised not to leave the bay, and technically he wasn't. Over the last week, the pod had grown closer and Jeremy found in Gavin another curious and fun loving soul, akin to his own. In the back of his mind was the thought that perhaps he'd find out where Gavin kept his above worlder things.

Gavin had shown Jeremy a few choice pieces and bragged about more, only to make the excuse that he was stashing them elsewhere for safety when he couldn't produce them. Being confined to the Bay and laid down with twins meant Jeremy couldn't do any exploring and he missed his own collection fiercely.

Now he tried to keep up, weighted down as he was, he wasn't as nimble. Gavin didn't notice however, so focused on where he was going. Jeremy was a little uneasy the closer they got to the surface, but as long as there was reef, they were safe.

Gavin paused at the top of the reef, looking out to where it gave way to sandy underwater beach, land that was exposed during low tides. Gavin looked about, Jeremy ducking his head, his fronds blending with the underwater plant life around him. When he looked up, Gavin was speeding up the steep incline of the sand.

Alarm spread through Jeremy, dangers of being beached in his head, of birds of the sky, "Gavin! What are you doing!?" He threw away all subtlety, racing after his friend to save him from his own stupidity, "Get back here! That's not safe!"

Gavin spun, the water disturbed at the surface, his dorsal sticking through, "Jeremy? Bloody hell! What are you doing dicking about following me? Go home!" Gavin told him sternly pointing a finger down towards where their pod lived in the depths of the bay. 

Jeremy joined Gavin, eyes darting around before settling on his friend, "Me? It's you who's got to go home!" Jeremy told him, his fear making him angry, so shallow here, they had half curled tails to keep their heads under the waves, "What are you even doing up here?"

"I'm... Meeting a friend." Gavin hedged badly, then shooed Jeremy with his hands, "Now go on! Get back home will you? It's nuts you being here."

"I'm not leaving you here to-" Jeremy paused in his scolding when something broke the ocean surface closer to the shore. He clicked wordlessly with fear and grabbed Gavin, pulling him before Gavin yanked his wrist out of Jeremy's grip. Jeremy gave him one wide eyed pleading look before instinct to save his pups took over and he darted back down into the reef.

From his safe place he looked anxiously back towards Gavin who was slowly swimming towards him, gesturing back at a strange creature. Jeremy stopped breathing, eye's locked on whatever was tailing Gavin as the lad's words slowly seeped into his brain.

"This is my friend. Jon. She's a Human. An above worlder. She's really nice Jeremy, you don't have to be scared." Gavin told him smiling and pausing in his approach so that he could take Jon's hand to show he wasn't scared. The human had a weird face, one side went up in like a tube, and their eyes were huge and bloated as well as slightly reflective. They had a pale face but the rest of them were mostly sleek black, their tail split high right to their hips, waving separately with a flipper on each end.

"H-Human?" Jeremy tasted the word and lifted his head slightly, curiosity overcoming fear as Gavin showed no fright of this thing, "Aboveworlder?"

"Yeah. Jon's way great. She doesn't speak like us, but she knows a few signs." Gavin grinned and let go of Jon's hand so they could surface. Their head broke the water then they waved their hands and two tails to float back down, struggling to sink.

"Is something wrong with them?" Jeremy asked next, lifting up from the reef but holding onto a rock with his hands to push off if he needed too, "Why are they doing that?"

"Jon breaths air Jeremy. She holds her breath to come down here." Gavin explained then twisted to Jon, palming a fist then pointing at Jeremy, "I just told her you're a friend."

"How do you know it's a her?" Jeremy sunk a bit down as the human gave him a thumbs up, "What does it want?"

Gavin laughed and shrugged, "To be friends Jeremy. You live with a shark. You can't be scared of this thing. She can barely swim and she needs to surface like once a minute! Come here and ask your questions." As Jon surfaced again, Gavin watched for a moment before grinning at Jeremy, "I um, actually don't know what gender Jon is. But, I heard that Human females are the ones with long hair. I don't know,so yeah, I'm kinda assuming."

"You are?" Jeremy couldn't help himself. He had to get a closer look, "Have you tried asking?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Cause its polite Dumbass!"

\---

Jon couldn't believe his eyes. He was going to be fired thrice over for this. The pregnant female they had nicknamed Spyro because of her colour, was coming close to him. He shouldn't even be here with Gavin, but Jon had been part of the team that had released him into these warmer waters in the hopes he'd find a suitable mate.

They hadn't banked on him finding a sharktail of course. Still, that was part of the reason Jon came out here, to continue Gavin's lessons in the hope of explaining what they needed him to do. Gavins particular species was endangered and Jon hoped he could convince Gavin to find at least a third mate that could conceive.

Now he was watching as Spyro trilled fiercely at Gavin, his mer-friend backing up slightly and keening in return. Jon had no idea what was being said but he could tell Spyro was annoyed about something and Gavin was guilty for it. Jon wondered if he was the problem, considering perhaps heading back early tonight.

Just after another breath and determined to tell Gavin goodbye, the Fishtail turned to him and made another sign, "Friend, soft? Hard?"

Jon frowned, looking at Spyro who, though still a full two arms lengths away, had drifted closer and was looking at him intently. Jon wondered what Gavin meant, forming the sign for, "Confused?"

Gavin looked at Spyro, making a few clicks that was trilled down quickly. Spyro made a gesture between Gavin and Jon that had Gavin squeaking before signing again, "Friend, J,O,N."

Jon nodded approvingly, giving Spyro yet another sideways look before confirming, "Yes, J,O,N, Friend." he then pointed at Spyro, deciding if he was going to be fired, may as well satisfy curiosity, "Friend? Name?"

"J,E,R,E,M,Y." Gavin signed back, smiling wide and offering a hand to the newly named Jeremy. Jon was shocked at the masculinity of the name, holding his thoughts to himself for now however as Jeremy took Gavin's hand and let him pull her closer.

Jon had to go back up for air and as he did he had to give an exhilarated shout! He knew teaching Mer's to sign was a great idea! Now he could ask some questions directly. Quickly he put the snorkel back in and dropped beneath the waves.

"New friend. Child?" Jon asked excitedly. Gavin chittered with the mer who chittered back, putting one webbed hand over their stomach. They gave Jon a searching look then nodded. Jon eagerly looked to Gavin for the answer.

"Two." Gavin answered, then gestured to Jon, "What you? Soft? Hard?"

Jon didn't know what this line of questioning meant, but it seemed important to the mermaid's tonight. He indicated he was still confused and Gavin scratched his head, speaking to Jeremy again. The two tittered back and forth before Gavin tried to explain again.

"Me, Hard." Gavin tapped himself for empathy, then he tapped Jeremy's shoulder, "New friend, Hard." Gavin gestured down into the bay, "Me, love, good friend, Soft."

Jon still was lost so, another quick conversation, then Jeremy tapped the blue bands on his arm. Jon knew that those markings in some tribes had social significance, mostly to indicate mating partners. In a flush of sixth sense intuition, Jon finally clicked what they were asking him. He flushed red and took a moment to breath to gather his thoughts. 

When he came back to them, he signed, "Asking gender?" Gavin tilted his head, the second word unfamiliar gesture. Jon had to repeat a few times, "Soft, hard, both gender?"

Gavin struggled, and he consulted with his pregnant friend before he made a cautious affirmative sign. Jon was beet red but this was fascinating. He wondered why Jeremy's presence had pushed such an odd topic but Jon was willing to go with it.

"J,O,N. Hard, Masculine, Male, Strong, Fighter." Jon tried to think of any words that could link the fishtail to understand his gender identity with the new words he was introducing. Gavin picked up on it however, they had done this dance before. Learning from each other was difficult, with no basis to understand, but they were practised at decoding the others nonsense.

"Male?" Gavin signed cautiously then more firmly, "Friend Male. Me Male?"

Jon nodded and gave the affirmative sign. To his surprise, Gavin trilled at Jeremy then facepalmed, the second fishtail squeaking and chattering with laughter. Jon couldn't help his smile, tasting saltwater and coming up for another batch of air.

Once with them again, Jeremy had gotten ahold of herself and Gavin was ready to talk, "Sorry. Me say, Friend, soft. Hair, long. Human, soft, long hair?"

Jon innerwardly groaned. Not even in the ocean could he escape the stereotype. He shook his head and indicated Jeremy, "Hair not mean soft. New friend short hair. New friend soft, female."

Now Gavin was chittering, sharing whatever Jon had said that was funny with Jeremy. Jeremy grew red, frowning and puffing herself up. Jon almost wet his swim suit as the fishtail came into his face, squeaking loudly, shoving him once in the chest before flitting away, leaving in a huff. 

Once Gavin stopped laughing, Jon questioned what the hell that was about.

"New friend male. Friend, Idiot." Gavin laughed again, shaking his head as Jon watched Jeremy disappear into deeper water wondering how the hell he was going to correct his bosses when he wasn't supposed to be out here at all…

\--

Jeremy came back into his home, as far as he was concerned, Gavin could get eaten. He didn't understand everyone's hang up on gender being difficult to figure out. It was right there on his arm for anyone to see! 

As the adrenaline faded Jeremy became aware of a throbbing ache in his midsection. He paused about to start wiggling back in with Ryan to concentrate on it. As he did, it throbbed harder, sending a spike of pain down his spine and a cramp through his front. He pressed a hand to his belly and felt the tenseness there. 

"Ryan! RYAN!" He grabbed his partners fin and shook, heedless of the rough sharkskin on his palms, "Ryan wake up!"

Ryan woke suddenly with a thrash, pulling his tail out of Jeremy's grip and swimming out and around the nook to curl around Jeremy, "What is it? Are you hurt? Is there an attack?" he carefully inspected Jeremy's face, then started down his body, looking for wounds.

"Neither. I think… I think it's happening." Jeremy said in hushed wonder, then winced as another contraction started, only mild for now but unmistakable.

"It's happening?" Ryan asked dumbly, then repeated it again with understanding, "OH! It's  _ happening!" _

Ryan did a useless little spin, pressing a hand to his forehead, "Ok! It's happening, it is now! Now is the time! Ok!" He spotted Jeremy in his spin and flittered close to him, "Jeremy! Right, um, so you should rest, right? Here hop in the nook-"

Jeremy grabbed Ryan's hand and squeezed it, "Rye, Get Lindsay and both the jacks. I'll meet you down in my nesting space at the bottom of the bay. Tell Geoff to bring me something fatty to eat, then you come straight back, I want you near."

Ryan was nodding furiously, "Yes! Yes i can do that! I can do this." he kissed Jeremy's brow then swum out, hissing as the door stung him. Jeremy moved out slower, sticking his head around looking for predators but only seeing Ryan. He then made his way to where he'd been resting most days, an indent in the sand perfect for him to curl in as he waited for show time.

He cast his eyes back towards the beach, hoping Gavin came back soon after Jeremy. He wanted to talk more to him about Jon, but now wasn't the time. 

Now it was time for twins to be born.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed please leave a kudos and more importantly a comment. I have anxiety and depression and nothing is more uplifting to see a comment in my inbox even if its a simple <3 because that means someone took the time to do that because they liked my story.  
> Come over to tumblr and chat with me if you like!


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